A mobile, mental-hospital-based team for geropsychiatric service in the community

At Norristown State Hospital a mobile Team of workers was organized to give personalized and preventive psychiatric, medical and social attention to distressed elderly people within the communities served by this large psychiatric institution. The Team's mobility permitted flexible approaches to problem-solving at the person's own home or other places of residence. Over its 8.5 years of existence the Team evaluated 1,438 elderly persons and acted in a consultant capacity to 77 nursing or retirement homes. Most of these clients were treated successfully within the community; only 222 required admission to the parent hospital during that time. Those treated in their own homes usually were able to maintain or improve the quality of their lives. The timely psychiatric, medical and social help often uncovered physical and social factors that previously had been overlooked.