Fuqua Center for Late-Life Depression Celebrates 10 Years of Community
Outreach
4/26/10 The late J.B. Fuqua, businessman and philanthropist who
struggled with depression throughout his life, recognized a need
in Georgia for a program to identify, educate and treat elderly
patients suffering from depression.
His concern led to a 1999 gift to found the Fuqua Center for
Late-Life Depression at Emory University's Wesley Woods Center.
William M. McDonald, MD, geriatric psychiatrist and professor,
Emory’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, was
appointed founding director. In 2003, an endowment from the
Fuqua Foundation named McDonald the J.B. Fuqua Chair in
Late-Life Depression in the Emory School of Medicine.
“Among other risk factors for depression and suicide among the
elderly is the presence of a physical illness and social
isolation,” says McDonald. "The Fuqua Center's ultimate goal is
to provide community-based programs that will identify as many
at-risk elderly individuals in the Atlanta region and throughout
Georgia as possible, get them treatment and keep them well.”
Eve H. Byrd, MSN, MPH, executive director of the Fuqua Center,
says, “The Fuqua Center’s success is largely due to its many
valued community partnerships. Organizations such as the Georgia
Division of Aging, the Atlanta Regional Commission, Aging
Services of Georgia, Visiting Nurse Health System and the
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
have worked with the Fuqua Center to improve the community’s
understanding of older adult mental health, and improve their
access to the medical care they need for depression and other
mental illnesses.”
Since the Center was established in 1999, it has informed and
engaged over 23,000 persons through community outreach and
professional educational activities. The Fuqua Center also
provides clinical services in 12 low-income residential
facilities, made possible through a grant from the Jesse Parker
Williams Foundation, and reaches rural older adults through
telehealth services.
Thomas J. Lawley, MD, dean of the Emory University School of
Medicine, says, “Through the generosity of the Fuqua family
throughout the last decade and Dr. McDonald’s outstanding
leadership, the Fuqua Center for Late-Life Depression has
created a model program that has earned the dedication and
respect of both state and private institutions. “The Fuqua
Center and its numerous community partners have developed
educational programs and clinical outreach services that have
vastly extended the availability of mental health care to
Georgia’s elderly.”
For more information regarding the Fuqua Center for Late-Life
Depression at Emory University visit www.fuquacenter.org.
The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory
University is an academic health science and service center
focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and
public service. Its components include the Emory University
School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and
Rollins School of Public Health; Yerkes National Primate
Research Center; Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University;
and Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health
system in Georgia. Emory Healthcare includes: The Emory Clinic,
Emory-Children's Center, Emory University Hospital, Emory
University Hospital Midtown, Wesley Woods Center, and Emory
University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital. The Woodruff Health
Sciences Center has $2.3 billion in operating expenses, 18,000
employees, 2,500 full-time and 1,500 affiliated faculty, 4,500
students and trainees, and a $5.7 billion economic impact on
metro Atlanta. Learn more about Emory’s health sciences:
http://emoryhealthblog.com - @emoryhealthsci (Twitter) -
http://emoryhealthsciences.org.
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