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St. Joseph's General Hospital Elliot Lake

Senior Friendly
Care

At SJGHEL, we are on a journey, using an evidence-based framework, to create an environment, culture and standard of care that aligns with seniors' unique physical, cognitive, and emotional needs, to optimize health, maximize safety, and involve patients and families to become full participants in their care.

Our Senior Friendly Care team is interdisciplinary, with members from Senior Management, nursing, physiotherapy, social work, speech-language pathology, pastoral care, the Oaks Centre, St. Joseph's Manor and Community Members/Hospital volunteers.

  • SJGHEL serves the "Oldest Community" in Canada. 36% of our population is over age 65, and by 2031, 56% of our population will be over age 65.  

Caring for seniors, however, does not automatically mean you are providing Senior Friendly Care. Senior Friendly Care evolved from the Ontario LHIN’s Senior Friendly Hospital Strategy (2004-2015), which was guided by a framework endorsed by the RGPs of Ontario and supported through extensive literature searches, statistical analyses, & consultation with hundreds of stakeholders. Currently, the sfCare strategy focuses on improving care of older adults across the healthcare continuum.

In 2018, seniors accounted for 78% of acute inpatient days and 92% of ALC inpatient days at our facility. Hospitalization can be a pivotal event in a senior's life, leading to changes in mental status, loss of independence, increased length of stay, and re-admissions.

Senior-Friendly Care logo
sfCare Senior Friendly Care, Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto

The Senior Friendly Care Framework

The goal of senior friendly care is to achieve the best possible health outcomes for older adults. The sfCare Framework provides the foundation for achieving this goal through guiding principles and defining statements which are intended to foster improvements in care across the system and inspire greater collaboration between older adults and their caregivers, care providers, and organizations.

  1. Supporting resilience, independence, and quality of life
  2. Compassion and respect
  3. Informed and empowered older persons and families
  4. Person- and relationship-­centred partnerships
  5. Safety and security
  6. Timely, equitable, and affordable
  7. Evidence-informed

  1. Organizational Support
  2. Processes of Care
  3. Emotional & Behaviour Environment
  4. Ethics in Clinical Care and Research
  5. Physical Environment

The framework was built around 7 guiding principles and 31 defining statements within 5 key areas. These five interlinked components/domains result in better outcomes for older adults when all components are considered together. The framework can be used as a blueprint to guide organization-wide improvements to services for seniors.

Our leadership is committed to deliver an optimal experience for seniors as an organizational priority, in our processes of care, and in our emotional/behavioural/physical environment.

View Framework Document