NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — None of us are getting any younger.
“You should have seen me when I was only 30,” said 88-year-old Troy Pegram while flexing his bicep.
Pegram is living his best life despite the challenges that come with aging.
“I’m telling something and I get to the very last word and it’s on the tip of my tongue and I can’t pronounce it all of a sudden,” he said.
His daughter, a pediatric doctor, recently helped him move to Hampton Roads to be closer to her.
“He very much wants to be independent and he wanted to be at a place like this where you have other seniors,” said Dr. Linda Pegram.
Since independence is important to Troy, Linda brought him to EVMS and the Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, where doctors specialize in care for older adults.
There the clinicians focus on the four Ms:
- Mentation (mental activity)
- Medication
- Mobility
- Matters Most (to patient)
“So healthy aging is a process of maintaining the optimal physical, mental and social well-being,” said Glennan Center Geriatrician Dr. Bahar Niknejad.
Many older patients manage several health conditions, for instance: diabetes, hypertension, hearing and memory loss.
At the center, Pegram and other patients receive a lot of screening and assessments for cognitive skills and balance.
The doctors and nurses make recommendations for care, and work with the patients’ other doctors to spot potentially harmful medication interactions.
“We are able to provide a personalized plan of care based on what is the goal for our each individual patients,” Niknejad said
For Pegram, that means a visit to the podiatrist, keeping up his daily exercise routine, reading books, socializing and getting outside to enjoy life as often as possible.
The best way to connect with a Glennan Center geriatrician is through the EVMS Healthy Aging Consultation Clinic, at (757) 446-7040.
