A perfect union of mind and body?

Mark Roberts is vice chair of the BGS Northern Ireland Council, and a Consultant in Acute and Geriatric Medicine. In this blog, he looks at the recent joint meeting hosted by the BGS and the Royal College of Psychiatrists

The annual joint meeting between the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the BGS in Northern Ireland passed again with plenty of food for thought, the amiable atmosphere between two closely linked specialties proving once more a useful foundation stone for a good meeting.  The dignified Edwardian surroundings of Clifton House in Belfast provided the backdrop for a joint sandwich lunch followed by our respective business meetings.  Thereafter an energetic programme was presented by both Geriatricians and Psychiatrists of Old Age to the mixed audience.  Those engaged in the mysterious art of Psychiatry showed their class and hospitality by giving us Geriatricians the boardroom whilst shoe-ing themselves into the ‘attic space’ for their business meeting.

Why you could be vice chair for Northern Ireland British Geriatrics Society?

Rosemary Kelly is a Consultant in Geriatric Medicine at the Lagan Valley Hospital in  Lisburn. She recently stepped down as chair of the Northern Ireland British Geriatrics society. She writes about her motivation for taking up the position, and her experiences in the post

A few days after my 16^th birthday, my father died aged 43 leaving me the eldest of 5 children. And in the midst of the grief I decided at 16 I wanted to study medicine. Not unusual you might say, except no-one had ever studied medicine in any generation of my family that could be traced and being now  from a single parent, low income background the challenge was even greater. Why medicine?  Because even at that young age I knew the handling of my father’s young death should have been different. And I wanted to make a change. The enormity of what I set out to do was lost on me but I was being driven by a passion that brought me as a naive student to Dublin to study. That naivety and passion has been my strength since. I entered medial school never having known a doctor let alone have one as a role model. And now all these years later that step out of social background has led me to sit at a table with professors and stand on platforms in front of hundreds of people. I became chair of the Northern Ireland British Geriatrics Society.