Geri Spotlight: Anna Hines and Eric Widera
The Geriatrics Spotlight initiative fosters community building within the Division, especially during this age of hybrid/remote work where it can be challenging to find ways to interact with colleagues outside of your immediate teams. This is a way for Division members to learn more about all the wonderful work we’re doing!
This week, we get to know our division staff, Anna Hines, NP (pictured left) and faculty, Eric Widera, MD (pictured right).
Role: Nurse Practitioner, Age Friendly Emergency Department (AFED) and Dementia Care Aware (DCA)
Joined Division: June 2022
Work site: UCSF Parnassus and from home in San Francisco
Email: [email protected]
Interviewed by Eric Widera, MD over Zoom
About Anna’s Role/Ongoing Projects
Anna is excited by her work in the Age Friendly Emergency Department which allows her to do comprehensive function and cognition geriatric assessments at UCSF Parnassus. Anna works with an interprofessional team that includes herself as the nurse practitioner, a social worker, and a pharmacist, to maximize home support and to develop safe discharge plans for high risk patients in the Emergency Department (ED). She is proud to support efforts to develop safer discharge plans which increases the likelihood that the older adult can live independently at home. These efforts also help to mitigate unnecessary ED admissions for older adults.
Working in the AFED combines research, education, and clinical care components to improve care for older adults.
Anna is also excited about starting her role with the Dementia Care Aware
program. With the DCA team, she will work with 5 clinics in the San Francisco Health Network to develop cognitive screening and functional assessments for patients over the age of 65.
One of Anna’s favorite aspects of her work is the opportunity to do thorough assessments of older adults and connecting with caregivers, as well as being a source of support for staff in the ED.
What is a professional goal you would like to accomplish by the end of this year?
Anna is eager to increase her knowledge of dementia care to better care for the patients she sees in the ED.
More about Anna
Any “fun facts” about you that not many people know?
Anna used to make jewelry (wire wrapping and metal work) which she sold from her own Etsy store. She hopes to get back to it someday once her kids are a little older. Anna also has been a vegetarian since birth.
Who is someone you admire and why?
Anna admires her late grandmother as she was a fiery, sweet, and funny woman who lived her life to the fullest. Anna believes her grandmother is the reason she has focused her career in geriatrics.
What are you happiest doing in your free time?
Anna is happiest reading and being in nature.
What would your backup career be?
Anna's back-up career would be a florist as she likes to make beautiful things.
Role: Director of Palliative Care Service, SFVAHCS
Joined Division: Finished UCSF Geriatrics fellowship program in 2005, joined as Division Faculty in 2006
Work site: SFVAHCS
Email: [email protected]
Interviewed by Anna Hines, NP over Zoom
About Eric’s Role/Ongoing Projects
Eric is excited about his GeriPal podcast which he co-hosts with Division Faculty, Alex Smith. GeriPal now has almost 300 episodes (new episodes released weekly). Each episode gets about 10,000 listens and the podcast is approaching a milestone of 2 million total listens since being founded in 2016!
Currently, their team is working on getting Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits available. Eric believes the podcasting medium is a great way to disseminate information and news regarding geriatrics and palliative care. Hosting the GeriPal podcast is a great opportunity to learn from experts and leaders in the field.
GeriPal contributes to the Division’s mission by supporting the dissemination of knowledge that Division educators, researchers, and clinicians are collecting every day, to a much larger audience than within a university setting. For example, the podcast could be an effective means of sharing knowledge, news, and research with providers based in rural environments.
One of Eric’s favorite aspects of his role has been transitioning into becoming a senior Faculty member and the mentorship responsibilities that accompany this career development. As Director of Palliative Care Service, Eric is dedicated to supporting and and guiding members of care teams into senior and leadership roles.
What is a professional goal you would like to accomplish by the end of this year?
Eric aims to support the longevity of his teams’ clinical careers by ensuring the teams he works with are happy, healthy, and not burnt out.
More about Eric
What are you happiest doing?
Eric loves wandering around cities – from Miami and NYC to Sydney and Bangkok, he’s covered a lot of ground!
What is the best advice you’ve ever heard?
Nobody will remember that you worked late aside from your kids.
Who is someone you admire, and why?
Eric admires his 14-year-old son who decided to travel to Argentina with a group of travelers whom he’d never met. It’s not something Eric thinks he would have done at 14, and his son’s adventurous spirit reminds him that there is one life to live and it should be lived to the fullest!
What would your backup career be?
Eric would be a barista at a beachside coffee shop like San Francisco’s Andytown Coffee Roasters which overlooks Ocean Beach. He likes making espresso and making people happy, so why not make people happy with his espressos?