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The move towards Senior friendly hospitals

October 14, 2013 in Community, Events |

It is clear that making our world more senior friendly is merely an extension of making the world a more caring and better place for everyone.

Mackenzie Health (Formerly York Central Hospital) held its 7th Annual Seniors Clinic Day (for health care professionals) on Thursday October 10th, 2013.  The conference was centred around making hospitals more senior friendly.

Mosaic was one of many community exhibitors invited to the event to provide conference attendees with information on services and resources available for seniors in the community.

What interested me was how hospitals are becoming more and more senior friendly and I thought I would take the time to raise this particular profile in this post.

From the Senior Friendly Hospitals.ca website :“Hospitalization can be a pivotal event in a frail senior’s life. It can add years and quality to life, or create complications that result in a difficult-to-reverse decline in physical or cognitive function. Without senior friendly processes in place, seniors may also have higher rates of adverse events, surgical complications, and nosocomial infections. Poor outcomes can result, such as increased length of stay, re-admission to hospital, decreased capacity for independent living, and reduced quality of life.”

The evidence also informs us that a systemic approach to the care of frail seniors, one that considers the influences of the entire care-giving environment, is associated with positive outcomes. Building upon this evidence, the Regional Geriatric Programs of Ontario have developed and endorse a Senior Friendly Hospital framework to promote an organization-wide approach in service planning and care for seniors. Some of the services they provide on the senior level but not limited to the many other programs they offer for all ages are:

Mackenzie Health also have an interesting program in place, The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP),

HELP) is an innovative, friendly, visitor volunteer initiative designed to enhance the care of older adults while they are hospitalized. It is easy for older persons to lose their bearings and experience a decline in mental and physical abilities while in hospital. Research has demonstrated that these declines are often preventable. HELP is a quality enhancement program whose mission is to prevent older patients from a decline in both their physical and mental/cognitive abilities during their hospital stay.Older patients find particular comfort in the assistance of well trained, calm, patient and caring lay people. Under the direction and supervision of expert staff, specially trained volunteers can significantly prevent declines in both mental/cognitive and physical functioning.

It is clear that making our world more senior friendly is merely an extension of making the world a more caring and better place for everyone.  We already have the expertise, the wider resources (and I am talking beyond the financial requirements) and the will.  All we need is the organisation and the communication to deliver and this is being developed and delivered.  At Mosaic we believe that every individual and organisation has a role to play in this particularly complex mosaic.

I also met Cathy from for Mackenzie Health who had a healthy eating exhibit (according to Cathy the bottom line in healthy eating is cooking from scratch) and who is interested in coming to Mosaic’s community resource centre to do a presentation for the community on healthy eating.

Important sites on this topic:

Senior Friendly Hospitals.ca

The Mackenzie Health “Hospital Elder Life Program”

Senior Friendly Hospitals: Improving the health, well-being and experience of seniors in hospital

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