Traditional ERs are ill-suited to geriatric patients, who find it hard to bounce back after a visit to the hospital
ERs designed for seniors are being created across the country. Hospitals with geriatric emergency departments include St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., five Aurora Health Care hospitals in eastern Wisconsin, and Mount Sinai Health System in New York. And more such centers are expected as the retirement-age population continues to increase. Visits to emergency rooms by people over age 65 rose by more than 27% from 2005 to 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.