Dhyana Vélez, MHA RN GERO-BC GRN, Geriatric Coordinator and Director of RWJUH’s Hospital Elder Life Program (left) meets with a HELP program volunteer. RWJUH has been officially recognized as an AGS CoCare®: HELP site by the American Geriatrics Society.
(New Brunswick, NJ) – Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) has been officially recognized as an AGS CoCare®: HELP site by the American Geriatrics Society. RWJUH is the first hospital in New Jersey to achieve this recognition.
AGS CoCare®: HELP Site Recognition is granted to institutions who have demonstrated a commitment to the AGS CoCare®: HELP (Hospital Elder Life Program) program and have excelled in carrying out the protocols to improve the care for hospitalized older patients.
Hospitals are eligible to apply for this designation after they have successfully implemented a HELP program for at least two years.
HELP was launched at RWJUH in May 2022 with the hiring of an Elder Life Nurse Specialist (Geriatric Coordinator), who worked closely with the hospital’s Director of Volunteer Services to recruit volunteers to help staff the program. Concurrently, nursing staff received education on HELP, its benefits, and the role of volunteers in the program.
Partnerships were established with key departments—including Security, Quality, IT, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Dietary—to ensure volunteers could assist patients safely. By November 2022, volunteers began seeing patients on one hospital unit, marking the program’s official launch. The program quickly expanded to a second unit in June 2023.
“We’re extremely proud to receive this designation,” said Dhyana Vélez, MHA RN GERO-BC GRN, Geriatric Coordinator and Director of RWJUH’s Hospital Elder Life Program.
“Research shows that if seniors stay active both mentally and physically, that it can help prevent decline.”
According to Velez, HELP is one of the more advanced volunteer programs, with volunteers receiving multiple hours of patient safety training and having the ability to perform tasks to assist patients at the bedside. Volunteers with HELP fill gaps by being companions for older patients, not only encouraging them to stay active but also making sure they eat and stay hydrated—steps that have been shown to help prevent delirium.
“Volunteers assist staff by doing anything from helping with patients’ food orders, assisting them with accessing patient education videos to spending time with the patient before a test or procedure to ease their anxiety,” said Ibiyonu Lawrence, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine and Division Chief, Geriatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and RWJUH, Vice Chair, Equity Inclusion and Belonging, RWJMS, who led the effort to bring HELP to RWJUH. “We are committed to improving the care we provide, especially for older patients. The HELP program designation shows that we are aware of their special needs and challenges and are educating ourselves on best practices.”
According to Velez, the majority of RWJUH’s HELP volunteers are students interested in pursuing health care careers. Some volunteers are retired individuals who want to give back.
In addition to having the HELP program implemented in at least one hospital unit for two years, sites receiving this recognition must have an AGS CoCare®: HELP core team in place that includes an Elder Life Specialist (ELS) and Elder Life Nurse Specialist (ELNS). A team member must have attended at least one AGS CoCare®: HELP conference during the past two years.
HELP sites must also collect and document data related to program staffing and patient characteristics. An established volunteer program is required with enough volunteers to cover at least two shifts. Volunteers must also complete at least two program training sessions per year.
Velez said the ultimate goal is for RWJUH to achieve AGS CoCare®: HELP Site Center of Excellence recognition and have the program extended to every hospital unit.
About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) New Brunswick, an RWJBarnabas Health Facility, is a 628-bed academic medical center that is New Jersey’s largest academic
medical center through its deep partnership with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. RWJUH is the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, a nationally-ranked 2023-24 Best Children’s Hospital by U.S. News & World Report. Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, orthopedics, bariatric surgery and women’s health. A Level 1 Trauma Center and the first designated Pediatric Trauma Center in the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.
For more Information visit us online at www.rwjbh.org/newbrunswick