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Jed Rowe
In memoriam

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Jed was a big, untidy, loveable man, a giant amongst geriatricians, a charismatic lecturer and an innovator who has left an indelible mark on the speciality and in improving the care of older people.Jed Rowe

Jed was born in Chalfont, Bucks in 1954 and died at home in Worcestershire from motor neurone disease on 17 September this year.

Jed joined us in Birmingham in 1984 as lecturer to Professor Bernard Isaacs where for 3 years he became the truest disciple of Bernard’s approach to Geriatrics and one of the most popular speakers in the medical school, the creator of the well researched “instant lecture”, and for his whole career an instant source of knowledge on any topic. He was better than a computer and seemed to have a “photographic” memory. He remained for us all, an inspiration in his approach to the needs of older people and for doctors training in Geriatrics, a constant support, guide and recruiter to the cause.

He briefly left Birmingham in 1987 to become a consultant and honorary clinical lecturer in Liverpool, where he felt that he was serving in a string of closing hospitals. He helped set up the local Crossroads Caring for Carers service.

Much to our delight he rejoined us in 1994 and became the leading light in our community hospitals, the only one of us to make Moseley Hall his headquarters, “ with a busy in-patient service, charismatic team leadership and establishment of a Falls clinic which attracts people from all over.”

A non geriatric word on Jed Rowe
from a fellow geriatrician by Paul Bannister, consultant geriatrician in Manchester.

I would hazard a guess that I’d known Jed Rowe longer than most as we went to school together in Manchester aged 11-18.

What most of you may not know is that Jed was a truly talented caver in his schooldays. He was thin, lithe, determined and actively involved in cave exploration with 18 hour trips in mid winter down various Yorkshire potholes. We were “little & large” (I’m 5 feet 8, Jed was well over six feet) and it was Jed who carried the extra bits of equipment, who got out of the tent first to make tea, who pushed on.

Once he left for medical school we initially lost touch but later, professionally, our lives crossed, to our mutual delight, at the M62 club when he was in Liverpool, telling me how to set up a falls clinic and in Edinburgh where he delivered his masterful lectures.

The Jed Rowe I lost was a thin, skanky caver with a heart of gold.

Having developed his skills in Falls research as lecturer, Jed became founding treasurer of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) Falls prevention and bone health section with widespread influence in creating falls services modelled on his own. He also played a major role in setting up Action on Elder Abuse, providing the first description of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy in later life. His skills in tissue viability spread to many units and included membership of the National Institute Clinical Excellence guidelines committee. His research skills led to his involvement in PATCH, a nationally funded randomized controlled trial of district general hospital v community hospital care.

For me Jed’s innovations remain the most vivid memory I will have of him. His instant access clinic, the death knell of the unnecessary domiciliary visit, his portable, penless, self auditing falls clinics with his dedication in collecting data and his Dysvascular Limb Unit.

The publication, with his son, of measuring sway with a pantograph came from his skill in using simple approaches to solve complex problems.

Above all, he was dedicated to the care of his patients. He was a meticulous researcher but turned down offers of academic posts, including a Chair. His enthusiasm, ideas and approach will remain with us in all.

Jed received the President’s medal of the BGS in April 2007 at the home of his close friend and colleague, Dr Alistair Main, “for outstanding service to the Society”. The Institute of Ageing and Health also presented him with a plaque for his excellent contribution locally.

He leaves Teresa, and four children, Tom, James, Charlie and Lucy who together supported him through this dreadful illness, which left him without any physical control, and so helped him fulfill his wish to die at home.

Peter Mayer

BGS Newsletter, Oct 2008
Issue 18 ISSN 1748-6343 18
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