It's Senior's Month!
June is Senior’s Month in Ontario and this year’s theme is “Working for Seniors.” Geriatrics is a cornerstone program at QCH. Here are some of the things QCH does for the seniors:
Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE) unit. Our ACE team helps patients remain independent after a hospital stay. Using a patient and family-centred approach, our seniors' experts create comprehensive geriatric care plans to support each patient's mobility and function while they are in the hospital. All ACE team members have specialized training to support the needs of geriatric patients.
Geriatric Day Hospital is an assessment and treatment centre that provides comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment and/or treatment for older adults who experience a change in function, memory, mood, mobility or have complex medical issues, helping seniors gain and maintain a healthy and independent lifestyle. The centre serves seniors 65 years of age and older who live in the community and require assessment, physiotherapy services and other treatments to help them remain independent in their home environment.
QCH is a Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders (NICHE) designated organization. This international nursing education and consultation program is a leader in geriatric care in health care organizations.
QCH is a Senior-Friendly hospital. All our hospital policies and clinical order sets are developed with a senior-friendly lens.
QCH’s Emergency Department (ED) includes a team of Geriatric Emergency Management (GEM) team. These nurses work 7 days a week in the ED to:
assess patients to identify their health, functional, emotional cognitive and social needs.
link seniors to community services.
provide education to patients, their families, and ED staff.
support seamless transitions between the ED and community health care services.
Three of our Geriatric Emergency Management (GEM) team.
Inpatient Geriatric Consult Nursing team which is composed of a clinical nurse specialist in geriatrics and an RN in geriatrics who provide a comprehensive assessment for geriatric patients who are hospitalized and have delirium, suspected cognitive impairment, dementia, mood disorders, functional decline, falls and polypharmacy.
Behaviour Support Clinical team which is composed of nurses, behaviour therapists and a recreation therapist who provides specialized assessment for patients living with dementia who experience behavioural escalations.
Geriatric Assessment Outreach Team (GAOT) that specializes in caring for seniors in our community. This team provides in-home assessments to at-risk seniors for whom leaving home is physically, mentally or logistically difficult. Assessments focus on functional, psychological, cognitive and physical health.
Behaviour Emergency Response Team (BERT) Call initiative that QCH has been provincially recognized for providing high quality care in geriatrics. Our BERT is an award-winning, person-centred approach to avoid Code White calls. It is used to de-escalate the behaviours of older persons with cognitive changes.
Our seniors have a voice through their Patient and Family Council (PFAC) membership.
The female-led Behaviour Emergency Response Team (BERT).