ROCKLAND — Although there are as many as 38,000 older residents in Maine suffering from mental or emotional disorders, there is no comprehensive system of community services to treat them, according to officials of Maine’s Comprehensive Mental Health Services Plan.

A three-day symposium of long-term care professionals and consumers will be held Wednesday through Friday, Sept. 12-14, at the Samoset Resort in Rockland to explore problems faced by the elderly.

Symposium participants will include H. Rollin Ives, commissioner of the Maine Department of Human Services; Robert W. Glover, commissioner of the Maine Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and Dr. Ronald D. Adelman from Winthrop University Hospital in the State University of New York’s Stony Brook College of Medicine.

Adelman has researched geriatric patient and physician relationships via funding from the American Association of Retired Persons’ Andrus Foundation at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City and at Hofstra University. Adelman will be keynote speaker Wednesday morning.