JGH patients in program for elderly are likelier to leave hospital sooner, data confirms

Value of Hospital Elder Life Program supported by latest statistics

It’s a sunny morning in mid-July, and Louis Schiff can only sigh and shrug as he gazes out at the pleasant summer weather he’s been missing, after spending well over a month being treated at the JGH.

But that doesn’t mean the 90-year-old patient has been idle.

Every day, Mr. Schiff’s spirits have been raised by visits from volunteers in the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), who have guided him through the relaxing and entertaining, but utterly essential “workout” his body and mind require.

Together they have performed simple exercises of the arms and legs, worked on crafts, solved puzzles or simply engaged in friendly conversation. The volunteers have also provided assistance with meals and helped Mr. Schiff to perform other everyday tasks.

At first glance, this may make HELP—the only program of its kind in Quebec—seem like little more than a “feel-good” project.

However, statistics compiled by the program’s staff confirm it’s much more: it contributes to cutting the amount of time an eligible HELP participant spends in the hospital, while decreasing the chances the patient will need to be transferred to a long‑term care facility or to an intermediate residence.

Essential physical and mental stimulation

This is the case for Mr. Schiff, who is looking forward to going home the next day. Though quick to commend the JGH and its staff, he says his long stretch in the hospital could easily have become “a monotonous existence,” if not for the HELP volunteers who sometimes saw him as often as three times a day for 30 to 45 minutes per session.

On this particular morning, Giuliano Rico, an 18-year-old volunteer, lightly bats a balloon back and forth by hand with Mr. Schiff. From time to time, Mr. Schiff also pauses to recall his enjoyment of singing when he was younger, and his enduring love for the country/folk music of Kris Kristofferson.

 Being hospitalized has also placed them at greater risk for deterioration in their mental functioning, nutritional status and mobility.

HELP tries to minimize this decline by having highly trained individuals regularly involve the patients in a variety of revitalizing activities.

“Passing the time with a volunteer can make a huge difference, especially if these patients have no one else to visit them,” says Mr. Rico, who gives 12 to 16 hours of his time to HELP each week and has committed himself to a total of 104 hours of service.

Aside from the satisfaction he gets from volunteering, Mr. Rico is using the opportunity to experience the healthcare system first-hand as a caregiver, with an eye to eventually pursuing a medical career.

Breaking down the numbers

Gina Mills, the Director of HELP and Assistant to the Director of Rehabilitation and Multidisciplinary Services, says the program has made it much easier for greater numbers of elderly individuals to gain access to rehabilitation services when they are unable to return home.

In addition, 76 per cent of those who agreed to HELP’s visits were able to return home or be transferred to a rehabilitation facility. The actual number of patients who needed to be transferred to long-term care stood at 399 in 2021-2022, but declined to 374 the following year and kept falling to 317 in 2023-2024.

On the strength of these figures, Ms. Mills says, HELP has extended its operations to provide visits to the elderly in almost every eligible unit in the hospital, including those in Critical Care. Consideration is even being given to expanding into the Emergency Department, she says.

Why the statistics matter

“The significance of those numbers is huge,” says Dr. Ruby Friedman, Chief of Geriatrics at the JGH. “We’re not talking about reducing the stay by only a few hours, although that would have been worthwhile, too. Rather, we’re talking here about days—days!

“For the sake of argument, let’s say HELP accounts for only half of the reduction in the length of stay for these patients. That’s still 3.8 days—half of the decrease of 7.6 days—which is enormous. I don’t know how many other interventions we have in the hospital that can cut the length of stay even by a day or two.”

Though effusive in his praise for HELP’s humanistic elements, Dr. Friedman says the need to collect statistics about the program’s performance is essential, because “the healthcare system is data-driven.

“You have to prove your worth, whether the funding comes from private donors—as HELP does—or through the public healthcare system,” she says.

“It’s also important to remember it doesn’t cost millions of dollars to finance HELP, since so many volunteers and university students are involved,” Ms. Lattas notes. “Where else is so much accomplished at such a relatively low cost, even with trained volunteers coming in on evenings and weekends?”

Nurturing a new generation of healthcare professionals

Ms. Lattas says the extensive involvement of HELP’s volunteers also means healthcare professionals are freed up to provide patients with personalized therapeutic care.

“For instance, if a physiotherapist is scheduled to see a patient, the volunteer can often help to get the patient ready,” she explains. “The patient will have been given assistance in opening food containers and finishing a meal, and then sitting in a chair with their walker nearby.

“This means the physiotherapist doesn’t have to go through the time-consuming steps of getting the patient out of bed and into a chair, or looking for a walker. She or he can get right down to doing what they’re trained to do, since the patient is ready.”

As a result of a partnership with McGill University, many of HELP’s visits since the early 2020s have been made by physiotherapy and occupational therapy students, says Ms. Mills.

The ranks were expanded in spring 2023 with the addition of Master’s students from McGill’s School of Human Nutrition. Undergraduate nutrition students were added this past spring, and now nursing students have joined them.

At a time when the need to recruit healthcare professionals is so urgent, “we’re hoping that exposing these students to the work environment of our CIUSSS so early in their training will make them more inclined to consider eventually working with us,” says Ms. Bitzas.

“Perhaps even more important is the human element. There’s still a reluctance among many young people to work with older patients, which is unfortunate, because the proportion of the elderly in society is rising steadily and will continue to grow in the coming years.

“Our hope is that by putting so many students into direct contact with elderly patients, HELP will demystify some of the prejudices and myths about them. Ideally, the students will even discover how rewarding and fulfilling caring for the elderly can be.”