You can support the best care experiences, close to home.
People want to grow old at home where they feel most comfortable.
This is what Dr. Fiona Menzies, Chief of Geriatrics at St. Joe’s, and the team she works with hears every day, as they help patients maintain their health and independence as they age. “The challenge is that often these patients are healthy enough to be discharged but are not well enough to live on their own immediately. They need help becoming independent again.”
In fact, when patients go home before they are ready, about 55% end up being readmitted to the hospital or visiting the Emergency Department.
Support from donors like you is changing this.
A new Reactivation Care Unit is now open at St. Joe’s for older adults who need to regain their strength and independence in the safety of the hospital before going home or to long-term care. The unit has new patient rooms that are bright and spacious, and the Sisters of St. Joseph Dining & Activity Room provides a space for patients to eat meals outside of their room, and participate in recreational activities. Dr. Menzies calls it a “home away from home for patients”, one that helps ensure they can transition back into the community as smoothly as possible.
Although the Reactivation Care Unit just opened, plans for the unit started about four years ago when the founders of St. Joe’s, the current day Sisters of St. Joseph, and others made a commitment to honour the hospital’s 100th anniversary.
“We believe in helping our neighbours and we give what we have to help others,” says Sister Georgette Gregory, Congregational Leader for the Sisters of St. Joseph, who worked at St. Joe’s after graduating from its school of nursing.
“When we first heard about the project, we knew we wanted to help the elderly. St. Joe’s started as an orphanage, so now the Sisters’ legacy has come full circle.”
Sister Georgette is excited to see the Sisters’ legacy continuing at St. Joe’s. “While the hospital has grown and evolved over the years, the commitment to the mission and the values of the Sisters of St. Josephs, and putting the patient and family first, has remained. When you give, and it doesn’t matter how much, it’s a good feeling because you are helping someone else.”
