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New program at York Central uses volunteers to improve elder care

Care program prevents delirium and functional decline

Thursday May 8, 2008 -- Camille Jensen

A new approach to help prevent the decline in elder patients cognitive and physical functions is getting positive results at York Central Hospital.

Called the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), the quality enhancement program uses trained volunteers that work with staff to provide personal support and attention to older patients who may be at risk of delirium or functional decline after being admitted to the hospital.

Lori Geary, hospital elder life specialist at York Central, says the hospital has a high number of geriatric patients which prompted them to look for an innovative method to help elders maintain their cognitive and physical functions so their length of stay is appropriate and they are discharged in a timely manner.

The hospital researched several programs available to enhance quality of care procedures and conducted surveys to discover what type of program would be suitable for their organization.

HELP
Lori Geary and Tatiana Diamond say the HELP program improves the quality of care for patients.

Geary says through their research they learned of the Hospital Elder Life Program, which originated at Yale University and has been implemented in 46 sites across the United States.

York Central also learned the program was being used in Canada. Hamilton Health Sciences was the first Canada organization to purchase the system and was reporting benefits.


Upon hearing of the success of the program, York Central decided to adopt the program and became the second Canadian (and first community-based) hospital to offer the services. 

The program consists of a team that includes an elder life specialist, clinical nurse specialist, geriatrician and trained volunteers. 

The elder life specialist works with the volunteers to train them on the best methods to keep patients stimulated.  Volunteers provide support in four main areas including: providing information and general orientation details, assisting during mealtime, supporting with activities and encouraging exercise. 

Since implementing the program, patient satisfaction has improved tremendously, says Tatiana Diamond, manager of York Central continuing care program. She says elders feel supported because volunteers are able to help them with practical matters like eating and social activities such as reading or conversation.

The program also gives families the comfort of knowing that someone else can help when they are unavailable.

Since implementing the program one year ago, Geary says the biggest challenge is keeping up with demand from other hospital units that would like a similar program.

Currently the hospital has 39 trained elder life volunteers and is looking to add more. Volunteers must also be dedicated as the program requires 12 hours of classroom training and 16 hours of training on the hospital unit.

Geary says the hospital has been able to retain most of their volunteer staff in the HELP program because they enjoy the personal satisfaction of having a positive impact.

“They got a lot of benefit from their work and they love the one-to-one with their patients,” says Geary, adding that 10 of the original 13 volunteers are still with the program.

The Hospital Elder Life Program was featured in the “Improving Quality and Patient Safety” category at the Celebrating Innovations in Health Care Expo 2008.

More information on the HELP program is available on the Yale education website or by contacting Geary or Diamond at (905)-883-1212.

Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Lori Geary via email at lgeary@yorkcentral.on.