One of the major challenges to improving the care of older patients is the availability of health human resources trained in providing appropriate care to the elderly. With only about 250 geriatricians currently available to support 5 Million older Canadians, there are not enough geriatricians – let alone other types of Canadian physicians and other health care professionals – with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide holistic, person-centred care to our rapidly ageing population.

If you imagine that the body is a machine, and illness represents its breakdown, then hospitalization can be considered a significant attempt to repair it when something serious happens. When providing care for older patients, this disease-centred thinking, however, is too narrow and will therefore produce limited results. When older adults are hospitalized, it can unfortunately set them on a greater path of declining health and reduced functional abilities often caused inadvertently by what many in health care refer to as the ‘Hazards of Hospitalization’.

Every year on January 31st, Canadians across the country engage in conversations online and in their communities about how mental health affects their neighbours, colleagues, loved ones and themselves. As many of us have come to understand, breaking the stigma around mental wellness through open conversation is an important first step toward making mental health supports and treatment easily accessible to Canadians who could benefit from them.