Elder Care at Providence Health Care

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The Elder Care Program at Providence Health Care (PHC) provides a comprehensive set of services at all our sites. The population served is elderly, experiencing psycho-social-functional decline, and often with multiple complex medical problems.

PHC provides Residential Care in six locations and our elder care hospital-based services include:

• Geriatric Medicine
• Geriatric Psychiatry
• Rehabilitation and Reactivation

Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatry at Mount Saint Joseph
and St. Paul's Hospitals

Each year, a quarter of all patients admitted to St. Paul's and half to Mount Saint Joseph, respectively, are over the age of 70.

Of these, the Elder Care Program's multidisciplinary teams' expertise assists complex geriatric patients with acute health care needs, typically older than 75 and who:

• have experienced significant functional decline within the last two to four weeks;
• have multiple complex medical and/or psychiatric problems that need to be addressed; and/or,
• require rehabilitation/reactivation to return home.

Early access to geriatric expertise is fundamental to avoiding or minimizing loss of functional abilities in frail elders and therefore better care, shorter recovery, and lengths of hospital stay.

Our services include:

• a 37-bed inpatient unit at St. Paul's Hospital, including Geriatric Medicine, Family Practice, and a Rehabilitation Unit for Falls and Fractures;
• a 22-bed Geriatric Medicine Unit at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital;
• the region's only specialized secondary Geriatric Psychiatry 20-bed inpatient unit; and,
• ambulatory clinics and geriatric day programs at both St. Paul's and Mount Saint Joseph.

Rehabilitation Services at Holy Family Hospital

Holy Family Hospital specializes in rehabilitation for elders, most of whom live in the Lower Mainland although about ten per cent come from elsewhere in the province for specialized services offered at Holy Family.

Patients are generally older than 55, medically ready to participate in rehab, have achievable rehab goals, and the potential to be discharged to independent living. These individuals require ongoing rehabilitation to optimize the level of function and prevent further deterioration.

The major diagnostic groups served in the 75-inpatient beds are surgical orthopedic intervention (about 50 per cent), recent stroke (about 33 per cent), and lower limb amputation (about 8 per cent).

Outpatient services are provided to patients recently discharged from the rehabilitation inpatient unit, from acute hospitals or those referred by the community. The approximate service provided is 30 per cent neuro and 70 per cent musculoskeletal.

Residential Care

PHC provides residential care in six locations, which collectively are home to about 750 elders.

Our Residences include:

• Youville (84 Residents)
• Holy Family (142 Residents)
• St. Vincent's: Langara (221 Residents)
• Mount Saint Joseph (100 Residents), favoured by the Chinese community
• St. Vincent's: Brock Fahrni Pavilion (148 Residents), providing priority access to Veterans
• St. Vincent's: Honoria Conway-Heather (60 Residents)

We have adopted the Eden Alternative Philosophy which is a set of principles that guide the way residents, families and staff live, work and play within our care homes.

Every team member (including over 700 staff members and close to 500 volunteers) plays a role in helping to eliminate loneliness, helplessness and boredom, which are common challenges in traditional institutional residential settings.

PHC is committed to creating vibrant communities, in which each person finds meaning, purpose and contentment.

Multidisciplinary Teams

Our teams are comprised of a range of providers with expertise in geriatrics including geriatricians, family physicians, physiatrists, nurses, therapists, psychologists, social workers, care attendants, pastoral care workers, and volunteers.

They are passionate about supporting the health of seniors and share care philosophies (a rehabilitative care philosophy in hospital settings and the Eden Alternative in residential settings) that emphasize maximizing and supporting quality of life for the Elders they serve.

They also appreciate that good care requires emphasis on early discussion and effective communication of goals and involves the client and family system in evaluating all options to determine a plan. Community collaboration and engagement is also essential to effectively support elders.

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