Professor Rose Anne Kenny’s Story

Professor of Cardiovascular Research at Trinity College, Dublin Trustee and Patron of STARS

Age is honourable

“As an expert in geriatric medicine, Rose Anne Kenny has wide-ranging experiences, but care for the elderly is her passion” Claire Egan.

“UNFORTUNATELY, there is a very ageist attitude in Ireland and the challenge is to change people’s attitudes so that ageing is something we can look forward to,” declares Professor Rose Anne Kenny.

The Mayo woman is two years into a demanding post as Head of the Academic Department of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College, Dublin and Director of the new Centre for Successful Ageing at St James’s Hospital. Furthermore, she heads up the new Falls and Black-Out Unit at the Dublin hospital. She is thriving in a position which sees her conducting clinical sessions at St James’s, lecturing at Trinity and overseeing major research projects. Throw in fortnightly lecturing appointments in myriad European cities, not to mention the demands of family life, and the word ‘busy’ becomes a slight understatement.

Geriatric medicine is her fi eld and providing a better standard of care and quality of life for people as they enter their twilight years is her mission.

Her father, Dr Billy Kenny, a native of Claremorris and a member of the 1950 All-Ireland winning Mayo team, passed on the medical genes to two of his four daughters. He also imbued Rose Anne, the eldest, with an enduring passion for Mayo and its football teams. ‘‘We try to get to as many matches as possible, and haven’t missed an All-Ireland,” she says.

Billy Kenny graduated from University College Galway with a degree in medicine and two hard-won Sigerson Cup medals, captaining the side. He left Ireland, married and settled in Canada where he worked as a doctor for a number of years. Unfortunately, he passed away at a young age having contracted a very aggressive form of Multiple Sclerosis.

“I would have been seven when he got sick. He had a remarkable physical illness yet he had a fantastic mental outlook. He was always cracking jokes, very positive and very funny. I suppose that as

he was sick for so long, I matured very quickly. I never thought about doing anything else but medicine, and I suppose in a way I felt a responsibility to do it,” she explains softly.

Having graduated from UCG she settled in London and completed postgraduate medical study at Hammersmith Hospital and Westminster Hospital.

“It was while I was in London that I conducted research into cardiology and heart disease. As a result of this I was mainly working with older patients and I became extremely interested in this area. I realised that heart disease and ageing was not something that many people in the research fraternity had focused on. I came up with the hypothesis that low blood pressure conditions were important in maintaining brain function and I got extremely interested in this from a research perspective.”

Described as a ‘world leader in research into cardiovascular and mobility disorders in ageing’, a description she modestly bats away, her work at Newcastle saw her establish a world class ‘Falls and Syncope’ unit which was replicated in hospitals across the UK. She envisages a unit of similar stature emerging, over time, at St James’s.

Sixteen fruitful years were spent in the north east of England, an area where unemployment during the 1990s was at over 40 per cent.

“I got fantastic exposure to delivering good quality medicine to the most needy. We worked exclusively for the NHS, as there was no such thing as private practice. There were budget constraints everywhere and it required coming up with innovative ways to deliver good quality care. The Falls and Syncope centre at Newcastle had patients coming in, getting tested and diagnosed on the day and leaving that evening. The service was very much rapid access and as a result of the NHS monitoring our unit, they found signifi cantly fewer patients were admitted to hospital,” she explains.

The subsequent move back to Ireland in 2005 brought a new professional challenge.

“The position at Trinity had a huge research component to it; there is an excellent brain ageing research unit at Trinity while St James’s is a fantastic teaching hospital,” she explains.

Her workload combines lecturing and directing postgraduate students at the university along with her dual directorships of the Falls and Black-Out Unit and the Centre for Successful Ageing. She conducts four clinics a week, dealing with patients who suffer from black-outs or falls.

“At the unit we carry out laboratory tests, tease out the causes and defi ne the best treatment. Older people present differently and part of our research is to identify what is so different about their circulation or their brain which makes their particular black-out contrast to that of a younger individual. Helping to improve the diagnoses and treatment by GPs and nurses is also another aim of the unit. There is a perception that black-outs are associated with old age, but that is completely untrue. Seventy percent of black-out cases can be cured if diagnosed properly.”

And so what of the new Centre for Successful Ageing – one which aims to tackle ageism in society and help people embrace the ageing process, as a new chapter in their lives?

“There was not a lot of work done in relation to ageing in Ireland and it is very much an emerging issue. There is so much to work on and improve, not just from a medical perspective but also in the whole area of social services.”

Ireland’s ageing population, hampered by poor fi nancial circumstances, has been left fl oundering in the slipstream of seismic economic changes wrought by the Celtic Tiger.

“Over 45 per cent of people over the age of 65 are on the poverty line. There are two things that scare people about growing older –poverty and loneliness. If you ask someone where they want to die, 90 per cent say in their own home, yet only ten per cent realise that wish. Most of the older people we know are living independently in their communities and it is possible to put supports into those communities so that people can stay there.”

The aims of the Centre for Successful Ageing, Rose Anne agrees, are ‘idealistic’ but achievable.

“The four pillars of the centre are research, education, clinical services and creative life in ageing. We want it to be a national centre which will set a level and a standard of care for older people which will be adhered to at all levels, whether that is residential care to homes in the countryside or acute hospital care. The quality of care at present is not as good as it should be. If we implement the objectives of the centre, we will prevent disease and, from a health economic perspective, it is a far better alternative.”

Major research programmes are already under way. TILDA, a longitudinal study of over 10,000 people nationwide, will gather a wealth of social, economic and health information which, Rose Anne explains, will provide a detailed ‘health assessment’ allowing medical professionals

to ascertain what constitutes ‘successful ageing’. Another project involves technology giants, Intel, who have invested €3 million over a three-year period, with the aid of Irish university researchers and hospitals, to devise new technologies which support ‘independent ageing’ in the home.

“Once you turn 50 your muscle power decreases, leading to change in your walking style. For instance, sensors in the carpet will pick up such changes, and in turn information can be used by the patient or GP to identify the reasons for this, leading to early intervention and preventing a possibility of falls in the home. Work is also being done on technologies which will counteract social isolation and improve interaction.”

Having spent the vast majority of her professional career working with elderly patients, attention turns to the question of euthanasia. What of an individual in their twilight years or those suffering from a terminal illness who may wish to end their suffering? “It is a thorny subject and I don’t particularly agree with it,” she offers initially. “However, I do think that the extreme of aggressive intervention for people when they are in the last stages of a disease is not appropriate either. I think that in so far as possible we should encourage people to declare what their expectations are of how they want to exit and help to facilitate them in so far as is possible within the law. Call it a living will, declaring in advance how you want to die and how aggressive you want the intervention to be. For instance, if one were in a coronary care unit, you could state how many times you wanted to be resuscitated. As medical professionals, we can apply this within the rules of the law and with sensitive discretion,” she concludes.

As we sit in the holiday home of Rose Anne and husband Gerry, in the village of Kinnadoohy, west of Louisburgh, I tentatively enquire whether she ever worries about growing old herself. “I don’t fear ageing, but what I would fear is poverty and social isolation as you get older. You fi nd once you reach a certain age that you do think about the ageing process. I already need glasses and I found that my two sons, on a hike on the recent Bank Holiday Monday, would have climbed Croagh Patrick twice by the time I reached the top,” she jokingly responds. On the subject of Ireland though, and the prospects for elderly people in this country, a more sombre tone returns.

“We want Ireland to be the best country to grow old in, and one that you can actually look forward to growing old in – that will require big changes in people’s attitudes and in the delivery of care and in our economic status before we realise this ambition,” she concludes. This article has been reproduced with the permission of the Editor, The Mayo News, Westport, Co Mayo, Ireland – Thank you

ORDERYOUR PACK NOW! ORDER YOUR PACK NOW!

STARS Syncope and RAS Alert Cards are now available in packs of twenty, at the low price of just £1.00

They are popular with all ages because of the simple manner in which they inform and protect.

Just the size of a credit card, the STARS Alert Cards provide key information for new carers, work colleagues, family friends, schools and the general public and so help YOU! To order, contact either jenni@stars.org.uk or jo@stars.org.uk

Admin:+44 (0)1789 450564 Freephone:0800 028 6362 Email:info@stars.org.uk Web: www.stars.org.uk “working together with individuals, families and medical professionals to offer support and information on syncope and refl ex anoxic seizures” SyncopeTrustAndRefl ex anoxic Seizures

NAME: I suffer with Refl ex Anoxic Seizures(this is not connected to epilepsy and is NOT life threatening)Please make sure I am safe Please put me in the recovery position Please talk quietly to me and wait for me to regain consciousness (normally only 1 or 2 mins)CALL IMMEDIATELY:

If injured or concerned also call for EMERGENCY SERVICES - 999