The Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM) specializes in the health of seniors.
It is also a place for living. IUGM houses 310 short-term and long-term beds and an outpatient centre, unique in Quebec. It offers second-line and third-line services for various problems frequently encountered in aging.
Please note that you cannot use the Foundation website to make an appointment or reserve a residential space. The purpose of the following contents is to tell you about the programs and services where your donations are used to maintain the quality of care.
The residential and long-term care program welcomes people with an advanced-stage illness who are no longer autonomous. The interdisciplinary team responds to multiple needs of these seniors and provides specialized daily care in an environment that is warm, safe, stimulating and adapted to their needs. Special attention is paid to loved ones, to allow them to integrate into the Institute, and to experience the time their senior lives here as harmoniously as possible.
The Short-Term Geriatric Unit (Unité de courte durée gériatrique, or UCDG), evaluates the health status of seniors and organizes the services required by their condition. This program is mainly for a clientele 65 and over, living at home. The UCDG focuses on allowing the elderly to remain in their home and prevent incapacities from becoming chronic. The unit has 15 beds.
For seniors staying in the Intensive Functional Rehabilitation Unit (Unité de réadaptation fonctionnelle intensive, or URFI), the goal is to restore their physical independence following an event such as a stroke, an orthopedic intervention or a deterioration in their medical condition. Lengths of stay are determined on a case-by-case basis, and discussed with the interdisciplinary team. The unit has 45 beds. It also offers specialized intervention for people with dysphagia.
The post-acute-care program has 43 beds for seniors who must be evaluated and then oriented to a place to live adapted to their needs, and for those working on progress, moderate-intensity rehabilitation prior to returning home. The program allows users with a potential for functional recovery to return to optimal autonomy.
The Unit also offers services adapted to people who have had an acute-care episode in hospital and cannot immediately return home, although they receive in-home intensive-care services.
IUGM promotes an interdisciplinary approach, based on the services of various healthcare professionals.
The care team is at the centre of action and the IUGM mission. Its role is essential in several ways, such as evaluating clients’ needs, finding the best possible solutions for care and treatments and for end-of-life accompaniment.
In order to provide quality care to users, collaboration by everyone and interdisciplinary efforts are inseparable.
Users and their loved ones are also partners of the interdisciplinary team. The user’s experience, their needs and expertise regarding their health condition are recognized and combined with the knowledge and skills of the interdisciplinary team.
Customizing care for the person by allowing them to make choices — and respecting them — is primary. The patient-partner concept is an integral element of the IUGM approach, based on respect, involvement, compassion, preservation of human dignity and free will.
IUGM offers outpatient programs that provide a continuum of care and services for the elderly who are becoming less autonomous but whose condition does not require a hospital stay.
Unique in Quebec, the Geriatric Outpatient Centre allows the IUGM to make use of its second- and third-line expertise in geriatric care. These services are designed to support first-line healthcare workers. They are offered via medical referral. The priority is to maintain the elderly at home while carefully monitoring the evolution of their needs and requirements for services.
The outpatient centre includes a day hospital, and five specialized external clinics: for cognition, urinary continence, dysphagia, geriatric evaluation and chronic pain management.
The Cognition Clinic evaluates and treats memory loss, which is a growing concern during aging. It also offers support to the treating physician for patients with cognitive problems related to Alzheimer’s disease or other, similar neurodegenerative disorders. The cognitive clinic accepts, diagnoses, treats and supports the senior and their loved ones. Treatments and recommendations are personalized following the latest cutting-edge information. The cognitive clinic treats anyone 65 and over with cognitive difficulties that may be related to a degenerative process (e.g. memory and language issues).
The Urinary Continence Clinic meets the needs of patients, the majority of whom are women. It provides an interdisciplinary evaluation as well as therapeutic monitoring so clients can enjoy the best quality of life while remaining at home for as long as possible. There are multiple causes of incontinence, requiring an interprofessional approach to evaluation and treatment. Specialist doctors, nurses and physiotherapists combine their efforts in order to meet objectives. Team members are also active in research and teaching. The clinic is renowned for its high level of expertise.
The Dysphagia Clinic provides multidisciplinary evaluation and therapeutic follow-up of patients 65 and older presenting with a dysphagia problem. Dysphagia is a symptom that affects eating and often occurs in the elderly. It is defined as a difficulty in swallowing, a deglutition problem. Its consequences can be light or significant, depending on the gravity of the problem: a feeling of blockage, coughing during meals, repetitive pneumonia, suffocation, malnutrition, dehydration. These symptoms may be the result of an underlying medical condition, such as stroke, Parkinson’s, cancer, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or severe deconditioning.
The Geriatric Evaluation Clinic provides specialized second- and third-line multidisciplinary evaluation for seniors meeting fragility criteria or with multiple, complex problems. The geriatric evaluation clinic treats anyone 65 and over:
- presenting with one or several geriatric syndromes considered complex, associated with comorbidity phenomena for which the expertise of a highly qualified multidisciplinary team is necessary;
- presenting with clinical signs of fragility during the previous three months (loss of weight, memory complaints, for example) and at high risk or in the process of losing autonomy with regard to daily life activities;
- whose health condition allows for evaluation as an outpatient, during two to three full days as needed;
- referred by a physician that will follow up on treatment and recommendations.
The Chronic Pain Management Clinic offers evaluations, care and monitoring, adapted to patients 65 and over, who have persistent chronic pain despite evaluation and care from an attending physician. Available approaches include medications, physiotherapy and infiltrations.
The Day Hospital is an alternative to inpatient care, it allows the senior to access interdisciplinary care while living at home. The day hospital has a daily capacity of 15 people. Patients attend twice a week for a set period of one to three months, depending on the attainment of treatment objectives established by the interdisciplinary team. The program is for clients becoming less autonomous who require temporary comprehensive care via concerted actions. The goals: treatment, functional rehabilitation, guidance, support and prevention.
The Day Centre, located in the Pavillon Alfred-DesRochers, offers therapeutic, rehabilitation, prevention and health promotion activities to clients with diminished autonomy. The goal is to maintain functional autonomy so that the elderly can continue to stay in their home. Each day, the centre welcomes 25 users. Seniors attend once a week and receive services for as long as their health condition allows.
The BPSD Team supports care teams that are increasingly facing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Such symptoms have significant impacts, not only on the resident, but also for family-care-givers and staff.
The team fulfills the functions of a third-line geronto-psychiatric specialist team for the Réseau universitaire intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Université de Montréal:
- supports local outpatient BPSD teams with highly complex cases;
- offers continuing education programs to local outpatient BPSD teams;
- helps regional agencies ensure professional service coverage to local and regional outpatient BPSD teams, including the implementation of telehealth;
- develops practice guides, intervention tools, and a website with a portal for clinicians;
- participates in the development of training programs;
- plays a leadership role in research development;
- participates in the evaluation of technologies and intervention modes in the BPSD sector.
The BPSD Team also offers specialized internships as well as training conferences and workshops on demand.
The BPSD (behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia) team has offered teleconsultation and teletraining services since 2011. Services are provided to professionals caring for seniors suffering from dementia. For example, diagnostic help, support for the development of a personalized intervention plan, monitoring of the effectiveness of the proposed intervention plan, support in the evaluation of the need for a protection plan.
The advantage of telehealth is that it provides remote access to specialized geronto-psychiatric resources and specialized follow-up (case discussion, training). Results: Case workers improve their skills and feel less distressed when facing these problems.