ABUSE takes many forms and social workers are trained to recognise the signs and help the victims as best they can. When these victims are admitted to hospital, the situation has reached a point where intervention is critical and it's up a team of Medical Social Workers to be their voice.There are currently five social workers at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital - one assigned to each floor - and they work with Child and Family Services Services to help victims of abuse.

Professional Practice Leader, Colleen English says what makes child abuse so sad is that most of the time the abusers are their parents, "the people they look up to the most".

A new and disturbing trend in Bermuda is the abuse of seniors and while this is not as rife as child abuse, Ms English says she wasn't aware of this problem until she came to Bermuda.

"They (the seniors) think their children will be there for them and they aren't. I think their children are frustrated and don't know what to do. They're not aware of what help is out there, which is why we're liasing with the agencies to get information out there."

One of these agencies is Age Concern and Ms English says the organisation calls them if someone they are dealing with in the community is admitted to hospital.

"They will call us and give us an update, which is good because then we know what they've been working on and what concerns they have," she elaborates. Likewise they liase with Age Concern once the patient is discharged.

"Bermudians are very proud and don't always want to ask for help, even if they know where to go, because it's such a close community they think 'What will people think if I can't take care of my mother?,' But there's nothing wrong with asking for help because that's what the services are there for," she adds.

The majority of the social workers' time is spent helping patients make the transition from hospital to home as easy as possible.

This is not always the case when there is no home to go to, says Ms English: "One of our biggest obstacles is finding somewhere for homeless patients to go. A lot of our shelters are full so everyday we have to call and people who come from the streets, we don't want to discharge them back to the streets, but it's difficult and they're young and don't want to go to rest homes."

Until they find placements, these patients are moved to the Continuing Care Unit at KEMH, which will expand to include an additional 16 beds in the near future.

At the moment many of the patients referred to the Continuing Care Unit are seniors, and thanks to this unit, seniors can now be moved off the wards to a unit dedicated specifically to their needs.

Then there's the Day Hospital, which Ms English explains offers valuable occupation and physiotherapy and has cut down on discharge time from the hospital, allowing patients to return home much sooner.

The Day Hospital also provides an alternative to patients who need therapy without having to be admitted to hospital and many of these are also seniors.

Before being discharged, Ms English explains that social workers investigate if these seniors living by themselves and take whatever action to ensure they have the necessary help once they are discharged.

This includes organising Meals on Wheels, finding transport to the Day Hospital for physiotherapy, organising bathing assistants in their homes and getting the district nurses to help with wound care or medication administration and monitoring their blood sugar levels and blood pressure.

They also put families in touch with the different services in the community they might not have known about.

"We can assist with day care if the patient needs something to do during the day, or refer them to different day care facilities on the island and can also help with day care providers who will go into their homes to help them," she says.

One of the most traumatic experiences anyone can have in Bermuda is having to fly off the island for life-saving medical treatment.

To alleviate some of this stress, social workers organising air transportation, or MediVac, liase with insurance companies, book hotels for families close to the hospital - allowing the family to focus on their loved ones.

There is even a social worker covering dialysis to help patients going abroad on holiday to continue receiving this necessary treatment wherever they go, while a social worker at Agape House deals with grief counselling and helps organise burials.

This is not a nine to five job, Ms English points out and there there is always a social worker on duty 24/7 at KEMH.

Their need to help the community even extends beyond the hospital walls and most are involved in support groups and community-based organisations.

"We're always looking to start new support groups," Ms English says with a broad smile, adding that she's been involved with the amputee support group since she came to Bermuda three years ago, while another college is involved in an initiative to provide shelter to the homeless.

Despite the long hours and often emotionally-charged cases, this team agree that there is no greater reward than knowing they have helped make someone's life a little easier, a little happier and a lot healthier.