Together we are helping provide support for TB patients in the TB Unit at Vancouver General Hospital
It’s been a busy year in the TB Unit at VGH, as we have been at full capacity with 12 patients. Fortunately, there is a full-time recreation therapy student who is completing her internship in the TB Unit. The extra help proved especially important during the pandemic. Recreation Therapy students acquire an understanding of recreation therapy in a hospital setting, plus a greater appreciation for the impact tuberculosis continues to have in Canada and abroad.
Recreation Therapy student Samantha with the iPad from TB Vets
The student has completed a fact sheet on the benefits of leisure for long-stay hospital patients. She uses an adult colouring app on the iPad and stand that was recently donated by TB Vets. This brings our total iPad count to 5, and all of them are in constant use by the patients.
Wi-Fi access finally became hospital-wide in the summer of 2019 and that
has positively impacted recreation therapy services in the TB Unit. The iPads help patients access apps for meditation, colouring, music, movies, podcasts and news from around the world in almost any language. The iPads have played an important role in giving patients a way to stay engaged with family and staff.
The iPads are also proving helpful for nursing staff and other allied health professionals who can use them to access translation apps for our
non-English speaking patients. Our social worker also regularly uses the
iPads to help patients complete various online applications.
The recreation therapy pre-printed order form (PPO) that we developed last
year with physicians and the leadership team has been officially implemented, significant streamlining patient care delivery. I can now quickly see if a patient must remain in their room, attend group sessions or be able leave the TB Unit.
Samantha encourages TB patients to do creative projects such as these magnetic tiles
As always, thank you so much for your continued support of the TB Unit
and of me as the unit’s recreation therapist. We are all so incredibly lucky
to have TB Vets working so hard to improve the lives of our patients who
are recovering from TB. Tuberculosis can most definitely be a disease
leaving someone feeling alone and isolated, but together, we are helping provide the support they need to make it through a difficult time.*
–Courtney Steen, TB Recreation Therapist, VGH