Welcome, Doc
SANDRINGHAM – The Elphin Lodge retirement village welcomes Dr Carmella Mielke.
Based at Rand Aid’s Elphin Lodge retirement village, Dr Carmella Mielke is a general practitioner with a special interest in geriatric medicine.
Mielke took over the practice in May this year from Dr Aviva Ruch. Although based at Elphin Lodge, Dr Mielke sees patients from all the Rand Aid complexes and also has a number of outside patients.
A Glenhazel resident, she completed both her Master and Doctor of Medicine degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand and is completing a Diploma in Geriatric Medicine through the College of Medicine.
Although she initially intended to operate in the research field, she changed her speciality to medicine with an interest in internal medicine.
“My late grandfather was the most amazing man, despite being sickly. He had to see a host of doctors for various ailments and received chronic medications from a number of different specialists,” said Mielke.
She added, “His treatment regime fascinating me and I found myself thinking how much more sense it would make if he had one doctor, holistically caring for his various ailments.”
Of interest to her is polypharmacy, which is when multiple medications are taken concurrently to manage co-existing health problems, such as diabetes and hypertension.
“Often, patients are prescribed too many medications by multiple healthcare professionals. These professionals usually work independently of each other, and there is the risk of negative drug interactions.”
Details: www.randaid.co.za
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