Your gifts helped renovate the Independent Living Suite, which is now making stroke recovery even better at your hospital.
A stroke is when blood stops flowing to a part of the brain, damaging the cells.
What that definition leaves out is the panic a wife feels when her husband suddenly cannot speak properly at the dinner table. The anxiety of calling 911, following an ambulance to the hospital and waiting in anguish to learn what is happening.
It also leaves out the confusion of waking up a few days later in an unfamiliar bed and not being able to move anything on the right side of your body. The shock of discovering what happened to your body and the work you’ll have to put in to heal.
Recovery from stroke looks very different for each person. Some people head home quickly; others need more time and therapy to get home safely.
A key recovery tool is the Independent Living Suite. It mimics the home so patients can re-learn essential independence skills like cooking, bathing or using the washroom.
But the unit wasn’t working the best it could for patients. Cutlery had to be stored on shelves due to space constraints, which confused patients (who logically looked for cutlery in a drawer). There wasn’t a dishwasher, which limited the options for practice cooking. And there weren’t handrails in the shower, making independent bathing risky.
Your gifts helped renovate the Independent Living Suite, which is now making stroke recovery even better at your hospital. You provided drawers, a dishwasher, shower handrails and a fresh coat of paint to make the unit more accessible and welcoming for patients who need it.
"Thank you for your help renovating the Independent Living Suits. We are so fortunate to help patients transition from hospital to home right here in our community."
