Robert Stall M.D. '83 -Geriatrician radio show host

Holistic approach

Robert Stall knows: Spending time with your grandparents does indeed pay off.

Stall, M.D. ’83, is a geriatrician: a physician who specializes in treating older adults. However, Stall didn’t pick his specialty; it seems to have picked him.

While a med student at UB, Stall originally intended to practice radiology. Dr. Victor Panara, one of Stall’s professors, suggested that a grounding in internal medicine would be a good basis for a career as a radiologist. During Stall’s internal medicine program, he completed an inpatient geriatric rotation at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. There he met Dr. Evan Calkins, then head of the geriatric fellowship program based at the VA, who recruited Stall.

“He put his arm around me,” says Stall, “and the force of his personality and broad thinking plus my experience growing up with four grandparents all seemed to fit. I saw an unmet need.”

What he saw, Stall said, was that elders needed to be evaluated completely and treated so they could continue their day-to-day lives. “It’s a more holistic approach,” he says, “focusing on quality of life and the ability to function.”

Grassroots geriatrics

Stall’s post-fellowship career furthered his experience – and his thinking. While he had a five-year stint as medical director of the Wyoming County Community Hospital in Warsaw, N.Y., Stall primarily has served as medical director for a number of nursing homes throughout Western New York. He currently is medical director and attending physician at several of the area’s most highly regarded nursing homes, while still seeing patients in his small private practice, which he limits to geriatric patients.

Stall’s ideas ultimately blossomed into “grassroots geriatrics,” a concept of how elders in our society can stay healthy and deal with illness. “Grassroots geriatrics” came to fruition after a local volunteer group asked him to help plan “the best health fair ever” at a local senior citizens apartment complex. As he thought about the fair, Stall says, “It struck me there would never be enough geriatricians. But lots of volunteers are out there, as well as older patients and caregivers who have time to help doctors do their job better.”

Stall created a health fair that focused on involving the apartment residents in their own care. “We sent out self-assessment booklets to participants beforehand, collected more data at the fair, then created an information sheet that patients could bring to their doctor and for the facility to use to improve services.” The fair included UB pharmacy students doing medication evaluations, an optometrist screening for vision problems, a therapist and audiologist checking balance and hearing, nurses and nurse practitioners taking blood pressure, pulse, and body mass index measurements, handouts on sleep, memory problems and incontinence, as well as other assessments and services, including mini-massages.

Stall created a Web site (www.grassrootsgeriatrics.org) to help other organizations develop their own grassroots programs, which quickly generated interest. “Within two weeks after I put up the site,” says Stall, “I got an e-mail from people in India who wanted to emulate what we had done. That’s the potential of a grassroots effort using volunteer organizations and the power of the Internet to help spread the word.”

Radio reach

To reach even more people, Stall began producing and hosting a weekly radio show, What Should You Expect at Your Age? A Lot!, on WHLD 1270 AM. The program airs Mondays at 4 p.m., features interviews, call-in questions and segments focusing on issues vital for elders. Stall says he tries to model the show after NPR’s This American Life, Science Friday, Fresh Air and Car Talk. He also developed a parallel web site (www.whatshouldyouexpect.com) that contains audios of all shows and related information.

Though it seems as if Stall’s professional passion might leave little breathing space, he spends a lot of time with his wife, twin sons and daughter. He also takes time to share his personal experiences with a genetic disorder he inherited called Wilson’s Disease, which prevents copper from leaving the body, eventually causing copper toxicity, neurologic symptoms and liver failure. Wilson’s Disease is rare and is fatal if not diagnosed properly.

Says Stall, “Wilson’s affects the same area of the brain as Parkinson’s, so the symptoms can be similar – tremor, speech impairment and slowed movements. I want to spread the word to doctors to avoid misdiagnosis, and to patients to make sure they get proper treatment.”

Stall’s ultimate professional goal is to educate patients, caregivers and health professionals on the basic principles of geriatrics: “I don’t think geriatric care is rocket-science medicine, but all three of these groups aren’t as well versed as they could be in the topic,” he says.

His vision for five years from now? “I’d like to see older people performing self-assessments and going for comprehensive screenings, then taking a summary of the data obtained to their physicians. Physicians will then have a broader information base from which to make appropriate recommendations, improving the overall care offered to their elderly patients.” Stall also sees the possibility for Buffalo to become a “center for geriatric excellence, where older adults and caregivers could come to be assessed and directed toward what can best help maintain their quality of life.”

Reach Stall at (716) 636-7531 or drstall@buffalo.edu if you’re interested in joining his efforts to improve geriatric care or fight Wilson’s Disease.

--Grace Lazzara

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