A Fredericton hospital is using a specialized team of nurses to divert elderly patients from its overcrowded emergency room in the hope of sending the seniors back home.

'We're diverting home roughly 60 to 62 per cent of patients that we see here.'— Dawn Bowie, nurse

It is estimated that 500 hospital beds are being taken up daily by seniors who do not need acute care but cannot return home.

Anytime a person over the age of 65 enters the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital, they are met by a quick response team led by Dawn Bowie.

The team of three nurses will interview the patients with chronic conditions.

Instead of admitting them to the hospital, the nurses attempt to find out if enough care can be put in place so they can stay in their own homes.

"We're diverting home roughly 60 to 62 per cent of patients that we see here," Bowie said.

In the past year and a half, Bowie's group has been able to send close to 600 seniors back home instead of keeping them in the Fredericton hospital.

Through a series of questions, the nurses determine if seniors can manage things like meal making, dressing themselves, taking medication or simply negotiating stairs.

If Bowie thinks that a senior can return home with some help, she will arrange the services in the individual's community.

Some seniors the nurses could not help lived in rural communities, where home-care services were not available.

Pilot project

The quick response unit began as a pilot project funded by the Department of Health. The experiment was also introduced to hospitals in Saint John, Moncton and Campbellton.

The pilot project ended in November 2008, but the results were so impressive in Fredericton that the hospital decided to continue the program and picked up the funding for it within its own budget.

The service is being carried on until the government decides whether or not to permanently fund the positions.

Satisfied senior

Gertrude Worrall is one of those patients helped by Bowie's team of nurses.

Worrall arrived at the Fredericton hospital after a fall.

"She came into the emergency room. She saw us here, and she was discharged home that day," Bowie said.

"We had homemakers set up to go into her home four hours a day, over a 30-day period, and during that 30 days one of our extramural nurses went in and did a long-care assessment."

Worrall is doing better now at her home. And with that help arranged by the nurses, she's been able to stay in her home.

"I'm happy here, and I've got good neighbours and everything. I like it in my own home," Worrall said.