Yvette Walker
With KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impacts in our region. Joining me today is Dr Ecler Jaqua, Geriatrician with San Antonio Regional Hospital. Thank you for being with us today, Ecler.
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
Of course, Yvette. it's my pleasure.
Yvette Walker
Talk about what inspired you to pursue the area of medicine specific to geriatrics.
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
Sure actually, it was my grandmother. She used to live with us, and unfortunately, she developed Alzheimer's disease. And at that time, I was just a medical student in Brazil, and I didn't know too much about geriatrics, and unfortunately, all the bad things that happened with a patient with dementia happened to her. We couldn't take care of her anymore, and one of the last things that she wanted was going to a nursing home. So we try our best as caregivers to give the support for her. I didn't have the knowledge at that time, but that was, for sure, the thing that motivated me to specialize on the care of other adults.
Yvette Walker
Please talk about the population that you're seeing today, and is it growing or shrinking in terms of patients that are aging?
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
It's growing, right? Actually, there is a study that's saying that America is aging as we know and by 2034 is going to be the first time in history that older adults will outnumber the children in the United States. And the problem is that our geriatricians, our geriatric physicians, geriatric medicine, is basically decreasing. We are not having as much interest from the medical students, from the residents, to pursue geriatrics, which is so important.
Yvette Walker
You are going to be leading the charge at San Antonio Regional Hospital's Center of Aging. And I know with that, there's going to be a residency program coming online, but first talk about the Center of Aging and what it is designed to do, and how it is going to serve the community.
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
So it is designed to be like one stop shop. It's going to be a big clinic that we're going to have all the specialties that usually the older patient needs - all the support. So we're going to have geriatric medicine. We are going to have physical therapy, occupational therapy. We are going to have lab so if we need to order some lab or imaging on site. We are going to have, I think, social workers to make sure they are okay at home. So all the resources that I believe an older patient needs is going to be just one place.
Yvette Walker
It's very exciting. I've been to the Center of Aging and it’s 175,000 square feet of just a beautiful gem in the community and a resource. And my understanding is they're going to be offering free transportation to patients within a 20-mile radius.
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
Yes.
Yvette Walker
And so you mentioned that the aging population is a growing population, one that is going to surpass the number of children in our country. In our region, there's one primary care physician for 9000 members of the community. What does that ratio look like for geriatricians?
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
It's even worse. I don't even know the number, but it's even worse, and it is a problem. So what ended up happening right now is that our primary care clinics are full of older adults, and sometimes maybe the patient's not getting that very detailed care that he needs. It because of that, because of the shortage and because of sometimes, maybe the lack of interest of going to do an extra year. I'm giving an example from my residency program, my residents, they tell me, Well, Dr. Jaqua, I don't like the geriatric medicine rotation. And I ask why? Because they are too complicated. And I said exactly. And think about it, if you know how to treat an older adult patient very well, everybody else becomes easier. So try to be very you know, like excellent on doing that. It is challenging. It is complex, because there are so many medication interactions, and one of the goals of us as geriatricians is deprescribing. So, like, there are maybe some medication that patients not even know what they are taking that are causing more harm than good. So we take care of them - make sure we assess them for fall, risk, cognition, home, safety, nutrition and deprescribing is key.
Yvette Walker
Where can the community go to learn more about this remarkable Center of Aging? And what is the grand opening projected date?
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
I believe it's going to be for 2026. We want to open and make sure we have everybody there, all these specialists. More information at the San Antonio Regional Hospital website. Our community is going to love it, I'm sure.
Yvette Walker
So exciting, looking forward to that grand opening date and that new gem and resource for our community. Thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Jaqua.
Dr. Ecler Jaqua
Of course, it's my pleasure. Thank you.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at kvcrnews.org/IELatinoVoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from San Antonio Regional Hospital. Here for life. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
