Sault Area Hospital is improving care for seniors through an Ontario Senior Friendly Hospital Strategy. “You can have a 65-year-old who is athletic and living a great life, and a 65-year-old who has a lot of morbidities and is fairly handicapped in their life,” says Liz Ferguson, the hospital’s VP of clinical operations and chief nursing officer. Using the strategy – which launched in 2011 to improve the experiences and outcomes of hospitalized seniors by preventing physical and mental decline – the hospital is creating a geriatric rehab unit and increasing staff education on falls. As a result, the number of falls is decreasing, and falls not previously detected are now being spotted. “We know seniors fall,” Ferguson says. “Our goal is to make sure they fall safely.” (Sault Star, April 25)