Council Award
An advocate
for the elderly
Dr. Sadhana Prasad
photo: D.W. Dorken
A
Waterloo physician has been presented with
a Council Award for her work in improving
the lives of older patients.
Dr. Sadhana Prasad was the first and only
internist-geriatrician in the community from 1987 to
2004. There are now four. She leads the Centre for Bone
Health, which she founded at St. Mary’s Health Hospital and also sees patients at stroke prevention clinics at
Grand River Hospital and at geriatric clinics at Listowel
Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s.
Dr. Prasad is one of only 200 internist-geriatricians
in Canada and works to raise the profile of the specialty
with medical residents by providing them with rotational opportunities at McMaster medical school’s satellite
campus in Kitchener.
After noticing some gaps in seniors’ care, she initiated
and worked collaboratively with the faculty of nursing
at McMaster to promote the development of a geriatric
certificate training program for nurse practitioners.
“The breadth and depth of her medical knowledge is
astounding and at all times she teaches with incredible
ease, passion and enthusiasm,” wrote Dr. Sharon Marr,
who heads the division of geriatric medicine at McMaster University, in a letter nominating Dr. Prasad for the
Council Award.
“She has demonstrated many of the CanMed roles to
ensure that our older and frail patients receive the highest level of care.”
In addition to her medical practice, Dr. Prasad has
volunteered extensively in the community to improve
and support the lives of seniors. She founded the South
Asian Seniors Association of Waterloo Region, affectionately known as Club 55 after she saw how her own
mother felt isolated and alone at home after the death
of her father.
At the city of Waterloo, she sits on the Senior Section
Review Committee for the development of an Older
Adult Strategy, as well as the city’s 55+ advisory board.
She was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal
in 2012 for her community service in geriatrics.
She has also been active in the global campaign to
ban the mining and export of asbestos. A staunch supporter of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the
Environment (CAPE), Dr. Prasad was instrumental in
that organization’s campaign to abolish coal-fired power
across the country, including the closing of Ontario’s
last coal plant last year.
Issue 4, 2015 Dialogue
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2015-12-16 9:35 AM