The professor

Nº030 / 100

Susan Kurrle

Geriatrician and Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney

In 1979, when Susan Kurrle was a locum GP, a mentor urged her to consider a career in geriatric care. Decades later, the geriatrician says she’s “never regretted a minute of it”.

Last year, Kurrle became a senior geriatric consultant on Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds, an ABC documentary series based on research into intergenerational care that she’d overseen. The merging of aged- and child-care facilities saw chair-bound seniors up making slime and singing rhymes. Elderly wisdom and infant naivety combined on topics as complex as war and death, narrowing the gap between age groups and sending wellbeing soaring. “The children had no ageism,” says Kurrle. “They were non-judgmental. It was lovely.”

More than simply making for must-watch TV, the regular interaction between old and young showed positive outcomes for both groups. “If you looked at it purely as a medical intervention, it was very effective,” says Kurrle. “And relatively cheap – with no side effects!”

She believes the multi-generational family living model that was once the norm should help shape the future of aged care. “In our family and with friends it’s the relationships between us that are important. I think we need to keep that going in residential-care facilities; we have to make it much more home-like,” she says. “I would love to see the acceptance that older people need to be part of the community.”