President’s Message

A lot has happened since my last update.  The most significant has been the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria which has involved many geriatricians working on the front line to manage the impact on older people.   

Two weeks ago ANZSGM hosted a webinar to hear from some of these geriatricians which was enormously well attended and generated a lot of questions which we didn’t have time to address completely.  I left the webinar with a great sense of pride as a geriatrician after hearing of the outstanding work of our Victorian colleagues under what have been extremely difficult circumstances. The webinar recording and presentations can be found in the members section here and we are collating responses to the unanswered questions.  Please also be reminded that the public section of our website has a highly curated COVID-19 resource page.  

The other significant news for the Society is the imminent retirement of our Executive Officer Lynda Donaldson. For more than a decade,  Lynda has been a stalwart fixture of the ANZSGM and has seen us grow as a society significantly, both in terms of membership and staffing.  She has always been accommodating to any request from Council members, but perhaps more importantly we always receive very positive feedback from members or external stakeholders who have any dealings with her.  She will be greatly missed and I would like to wish her all the best in her retirement.  Recruitment is currently underway for our next Executive Officer. 

Several weeks ago Council agreed to support the Perioperative Care of Older People Special Interest Group (SIG) – the Society’s first special interest group. The concept has been entertained on previous occasions over several years but we never quite got it over the line, however this time it was felt that the moment is now right to support the SIG.  This is in part a reflection of our growth as an organisation both in terms of size and staff, in addition to the importance of the topic.  I am grateful that Prof Jacqui Close has agreed to chair that group which will be supported administratively by Jo Dunlop our Communications Officer. 

Last week members were asked to vote on a motion which was put at our most recent AGM with regard to reviewing our position on Voluntary Assisted Dying.  We hope to see a high participation rate that will allow us to act on the views of members. Please vote here if you haven’t done so yet. 

Finally, I would like to welcome Shane Clifford to the role of newsletter editor (this is his first edition) and thank you again Tuly Rosenfeld as outgoing editor.   

May borders reopen and an effective vaccine be developed apace!