It wasn’t part of their job, but some staff members of the Lions Gate Hospital couldn’t help but notice how a patient’s lounge was far from the uplifting space it should be.
In fact, as nurse clinician Jayne Lehn and patient care coordinator Nicole LeSage noticed, it was shabby and depressing.
“It was pretty grim,” said LeSage. “There was one couch that was being held together with tape, and with fewer people using the room, it was starting to become an unofficial storage area.”
This patient lounge was on the west side of Lions Gate Hospital’s sixth floor, where people recover from orthopedic surgery. Part of the healing process requires them to move around.
The lounge was just the kind of place that should have been bright and inspiring, not dull and harsh, which it was.
Nicole and Jayne, along with other staff members, decided to go above and beyond their duty to enliven a bleak atmosphere.
They applied for and received a grant from the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation’s Women’s Giving Circle to make the room a welcoming space that people—and patients—would want to spend time in.
With $5,000 in grant money, they purchased new furniture and decor for the lounge and adjoining patio.
“We did a lot of the work on our lunch breaks and my husband and I came in one Saturday to build the furniture,” says Jayne.
TELUS provided a new television as part of the current upgrade at LGH, and LGH maintenance supplied a fresh coat of paint and installed new flooring.
“As soon as we opened the new room, patients immediately started coming in and using the space,” added Jayne.
“It’s especially important to get ortho patients up and moving around, and it’s so great to see them wanting to come down here and spend time in the lounge.”
“We’re so pleased everyone is enjoying the new space,” says Nicole.
Nicole said she is grateful to the Women’s Giving Circle for supporting them in this project.
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