Geriatric Program

Specialized Care for the Elderly

The Geriatric program at TADH provides specialized care for the elderly. Learn more about the programs and services offered for your loved ones.

Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) Program

The Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) Program has been up and running at TADH since the Spring of 2023. The program has a team of two social workers, one speech language pathologist, one occupational therapist, one rehab assistant and one recreation therapist. The program supports patients at our main site, and offsite at St. Mary’s Gardens.

The goal of GEM is to provide expert clinical resources and targeted comprehensive geriatric assessments to help identify patient needs and concerns, which then leads to education and referrals to community services and resources.

GEM nurses will help reduce hospitalizations, minimize repeat visits to the emergency department, help maintain functional abilities, and connect seniors in hospital with community supports to return home safely. In addition, the program provides intervention and prevention strategies that help maintain a senior’s level of independence and well being.

Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO)

The BSO Program provides behavioural health care services, helping improve care for older adults in Ontario with, or at-risk of, responsive behaviours or personal expressions associated with dementia, complex mental health, substance use and/or other neurological conditions.

At TADH, our patients are supported by BSO personal support workers and transitional clinical behavioural response specialists. This amazing team provides specialized on-site services for older adults with or at-risk of responsive behaviours or personal expression and, through BSO, offers behavioural assessments and treatment, transitional care planning, education, support and links to specialized care.

Our BSO Program team aims to ensure individual care plans are implemented, provide supports to patients and help model strategies to help lower responsive behaviours.

The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)

The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) is an innovative delirium-prevention program designed to improve the hospital experience of older adult patients. The goals of the HELP program are to prevent delirium, to maintain the cognitive and physical functioning of patients throughout their hospital stay, to support older patients to return home from the hospital, as independently as possible, and to prevent unplanned returns to the hospital.

The program strives to support enrolled patients up to three times daily, seven days a week by providing the following services:

• Daily visiting through increased orientation and social support;
• Early mobilization by encouraging patients to keep moving;
• Hearing and vision support by offering access to glasses and/or hearing amplifiers;
• Therapeutic engagement through meaningful activities that keep the brain active;
• Meal support such as helping to open packages, tray set-up, socialization, and encouraging fluids when needed; and
• Sleep health by promoting more restful sleep routines and relaxation techniques.

Volunteering with HELP is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the lives of older patients during their hospital stay at TADH. 

• We offer free and specialized training for our HELP volunteer team.
• We require members of the HELP volunteer team to commit one, 3-4 hour shift per week, over six months or 100-hour period of time.