Meet Gerontologist Dr. Thao: by CSULB MSG student Max Macadaan

I conducted an interview with Dr. Thao from Grace Geriatric Care in Garden Grove to take a peek into a day of a Gerontologist. She's a geriatrician at the clinic and was very helpful and informative during our talk. The biggest A HA moment I had during the talk was the fact that many of her patients were surprised at the care that they received there compared to the care they received at other places. She said that they themselves did not know what they needed and once they were under their detailed care, did they realized that there were so many things they could do and have checked to better improve their health. Dr. Thao said that this was what made her want to work in this field is to provide care that others typically wouldn't give or focus on for older adults. 

I was also shocked to hear that she mentioned how she is usually questioned a lot for the procedures and care she is giving to her patients due to being unaware of what proper older age care is compared to other hospitals that is specializing in a more general care. Another surprising thing that she told me was that even though their clinic was for older adults, she had come across 18-year-olds going through some of the same things that older patients would and were sent to their clinic instead. The lack of knowledge for care for older adults was so immense that they would receive younger patients if they had symptoms of older adults. Dr. Thao said that she is usually saddened yet relieved to see new patients due to the fact that they were neglected of what they are truly needing, not from only going to non-specialized doctor, but from also have no family to be around to help figure out when something goes wrong. She said that she could tell I am a rather emotional person and working in this industry would need a strong sense of control for emotions. What she also told me to practice as I choose my career in this field would be a lot of patience. She emphasized it almost every topic that patience is a strong trait to work in the field due to the idea of certain mental situations as well as dealing with families as well. Since there are a lot of older adults who aren't able to fully advocate for themselves, being able to practice patience with them and their family is key to being able to help them.

Overall, I had a great talk with Dr. Thao and it was rather inspiring and empowering.