Welcome to GeriatricswithAloha.com

Thank you for visiting this website. My name is Dr. Warren Wong and I have practiced Geriatric Medicine in Hawaii for most of my career. Over the years, I have been asked many questions, for example:

  • When is it important to call the doctor?

  • We’re living longer, how do we make life great?

  • What advice do you have about caregiving to make it more enjoyable and less stressful?

My posts will give a geriatrician’s perspective on these questions. I’ll describe decisions that patients, families and I have made. Some decisions were good and some bad.

New medications and treatments often present new solutions and approaches to common issues. But there are always important questions to consider.

If you had mild Alzheimer's Disease, would you want to try the new medication, Aduhelm? Would you later regret it?  Will there be a vaccine to prevent Alzheimer's Disease?

Dr. Warren in conversation with a patient

Geriatrics with Aloha provides help and support to Caregivers

Caregivers are the most important persons to many seniors

Help for day to day life of elderly patients and their caregivers

During my career, being a geriatrician was both fun and frustrating. The frustrating part was a healthcare system that did not meet the needs of frail patients. Going to the doctor’s office can take all day and be exhausting. The visit is once every few months or less and the visit is short.

There is a big gap between a visit to the doctor’s office and the day to day lives of elderly patients. Caregivers play the most important role in maintaining a frail patient’s health and quality of life.  My ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between caregivers and healthcare.  This website is a step in that direction. I’m here to support and empower the caregiver.

What is Geriatric Medicine?

Geriatric Medicine is the specialty of caring for seniors. Geriatricians work especially closely with frail elderly patients and those who have dementia. We see things in a very distinct way.

Providing the best care possible requires more than understanding diseases and age. It is about knowing what matters most to the patient. It is also about understanding the world in which the patient and caregiver live.

Just as pediatricians emphasize developmental status, geriatricians emphasize functional status. We get a clear picture of the patient’s health when we know what a patient can do.

We also realize the importance of supporting the caregiver. Caregivers, not medicines, make the biggest difference in a frail patient’s life. Most of the care of a frail patient is at home, not in the doctor’s office.

Aloha, I’m Dr. Warren Wong

Caring for patients doesn’t just happen in the hospital.  Almost all care for frail patients is done at home by caregivers, both family and hired. 

I learned this long ago when I started my career as a physician in San Francisco at On Lok Senior Health Services, the first location of the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Most of my career since then has been in Hawai’i.  

I have been a frontline Doctor, a Professor, a health care leader and an advocate.

Visit our companion sites

created by Dr. Warren

MemoriesConnect.com features MemorC - a mobile app developed by Dr. Warren for people living with mild dementia.

MemoriesConnect.Com

MemorC is available in the Apple store
for iPhone and iPad.

Dr. Warren created Covid19Caregiving.Com to provide help and support to caregivers dealing with the unprecedented challenges brought about by the Covid-19 epidemic. In addition to posts dealing specifically with Covid-19 related matters, the site also offers videos and posts with useful tips and information about caregiving and active living.

Covid19Caregiving.Com