Senior Emergency Department

This includes elder-friendly lighting, softer colors, noise abatement features, handrails and non-reflective flooring to reduce missteps.

[2] Research has found that the noise, chaos and crowding of typical emergency rooms has a negative impact on older patients.

[3] The nation's first "Senior Emergency Department" was created at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, in 2008 and designed by Dr. Bill Thomas.

[4] In addition to building a $150,000 enclosed ER for older adults, Holy Cross retrained nursing and emergency doctors in geriatrics and provided a full-time social worker.

More hospitals are expected to offer geriatric emergency departments as the nation's 76 million baby boomers double the number of older adults in the U.S. by 2030.