Your kindness is helping to lift patients and staff up, both in spirit and in care. The addition of foam rollers and wedges on the geriatric rehabilitation unit continues to improve care methods and make work more efficient for staff. Before the wedges were purchased, staff were using blankets that were held together with tape in order to adjust patients. The foam rollers have helped to eliminate the use of a sling and lift for moving patients’ legs, which always required two people to do. Adjusting patients was time consuming, required more resources to put together and clean, and required more staff to use.

Doris Pua, a nurse that works on the unit identified that her patients would benefit from the use of foam rollers and wedges to improve their positioning and comfort. She is now happy to see them being used by her colleagues. She finds that they help her take better care of her patients. “It helps my patients with multiple sclerosis stay in place so they aren’t shifting around on the bed, it can really make a difference having the wedge there.”

Thanks to you, it now takes staff less time to move a patient, making more time in their day for other tasks, or to take a well-deserved break. Now that staff are taking full advantage of the foam rollers, they no longer need two staff members to move a patient.

The foam rollers are also providing staff with the opportunity for more education and training with new tools. This will improve patient care today, and make an impact for future patients as well! Doris is frequently showing new or part-time staff how to make use of the rollers. “More introduction to the staff would get them to use it even more since they’re used to the old style, but when they get shown how to use it they go ‘oh okay, that’s great!’”

Staff have even begun to request more sizes in the rollers and wedges so that they can use them for even more tasks throughout the day.

A coworker in the hallway comments “Oh those rollers are awesome, they’re really great!”.

Your generosity is elevating care at Victoria Hospital and inspiring staff to find new and improved ways to provide their patients with the best care possible.