February 2018 Investing in your healthcare since 1965 Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation YOUR GIFTS AT WORK We are inspired everyday by the generosity of our donors. When you give to the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation you help people. You make chemotherapy more comfortable for cancer patients. You give doctors the tools to improve surgical procedures and detect and diagnose illnesses sooner. You help sick babies go home healthy. T ANK You ensure patients get the best care possible. Your donations change peoples’ lives. YOU Mission The Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation raises funds to help The Moncton Hospital deliver exceptional healthcare and promote wellness to meet the needs of our Vision communities. Transforming Transforming health healthcare together. and changing lives together. Take a look at what we have accomplished and how donations impact patient care. Your investment helps revolutionize patient care. GIVE NOW. www.FriendsFoundation.ca 2 Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation YOUR GIFTS AT WORK Hospital’s most vulnerable patients benefit from new Mobile Digital Radiology System This makes a huge difference in our ability to quickly diagnose and treat these tiny, premature babies. Dr. Rody Canning The Rooftop Garden, located on the third floor, is a space for patients to enjoy therapeutic, recreational and physical activities — no matter the season. Picture above was taken at the grand opening held in August. Sunshine and fresh air of Rooftop Garden help mental health and/or addiction patients “Patients have a sense of pride as well when the flowers they planted grow and bloom.” – Petrea Taylor, RN, PhD (c) Petrea Taylor’s concern for her patient, an adult unit providing crisis intervention and assessment woman with suicidal thoughts, was growing. to children up to 16 in the province who are Taylor, who is a registered nurse, clinical nurse referred by their medical professional. It is the specialist, and PhD candidate working with only provincial unit in New Brunswick. mental health and/or addiction patients at The The YWU is a four bed unit for local children Moncton Hospital, struggled to find new options up to age 16 seeking treatment for an emotional for treatment to help the woman move past her issue. current thought cycle. The Adult Psychiatry Unit has 24 beds for She decided even though it was a cold day patients suffering from various forms of addictions in late autumn that she would take the patient and mental health issues including thoughts of outside to the Rooftop Garden on the hospital’s suicide, anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, third floor. schizophrenia and substance abuse. “I said to her, ‘let’s go outside and look at the In total, about 743 patients a year use these units sky,’ hoping that when we did that, her mind and while not all will use the Rooftop Garden, would change as her perspective changed,” since it opened about 30 a month are. Taylor explained. Kim Johnson, recreation therapist at The Shoulder to shoulder they stood out on the new Moncton Hospital, says the fenced-in area which Rooftop Garden that had only opened in August, can be accessed only by the patients when 2017 with help from generous donors to the they are accompanied by staff, gives patients Patients from the Provincial Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit and Youth Wellness Unit helped transform the space into a Christmas wonderland, which staff say brought joy to patients and staff throughout the hospital. Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation. a chance to just sit quietly in the fresh air, or be “It was freezing,” Taylor recalled. “We stood more active playing basketball, playing on a there for some time and she didn’t say anything. giant checkerboard, running through a hose and She just looked up and stared at the sky. She felt sprinklers on hot days, and planning, planting replacing the need for sedation medication or the fresh air blowing against her face. Then she and maintaining the flower beds in season. other restraints as some patients are calmed with said with surprise in her voice that looking at the It’s not a three-season effort either. It is in use the natural environment. sky was helping her change her mind. She felt less all winter long with many of the younger patients The actual Rooftop Garden space is about 40 anxious.” enjoying going out to play in the snow. by 20 feet with raised boxes of annual plants As the two women turned and headed back The calming environment and chance to be and perennial hydrangeas and an arbor, and towards the door, the patient stopped in a rare outdoors but still on hospital property meets a the useable space is larger for the basketball, moment of delight. All of the plants were dead, tremendous need of the patients and provides sprinkler and hose, and even a hopscotch game. except for one beautiful purple flower that had substantial benefits to them, say Taylor and Johnson said the children are always asking to just released itself from its stem in the wind and Johnson. go out and it does them so much good to have the was lying in brilliant color on top of the soil. Both Prior to the Rooftop Garden’s opening, there freedom to move around and enjoy the fresh air. felt its symbolism. The patient gently picked it up, was no way that many patients could go outside Sometimes the more relaxed atmosphere makes brushed it off, and brought it back to her room. safely and see the sunshine or feel the fresh air on for breakthroughs as well. Taylor recalls one of A 'before' picture of the space where there is now a Rooftop It was the beginning of turning the wheels of their face. Oftentimes, patients are not permitted the adolescent patients asking her to shoot some Garden at The Moncton Hospital. change for her recovery. by order of their psychiatrist to leave the unit or hoops with him. Taylor, in skirt and high heels, This is just one story, but there are dozens, hospital property. gamely obliged and as they played, he began Taylor added in explaining the benefits of the In cases of patients who previously could be to open up to her and it was therapeutic for him. What both Taylor and Johnson and the other new $230,000 Rooftop Garden that is exclusively taken outdoors, the process was often difficult “Patients in our units feel important because no professionals working in the units most enjoy, for the use of patients in the Provincial Child and since it involved having additional staff and one can use the Rooftop Garden except for them, however, is watching the children have moments Adolescent Psychiatry Unit (PCAPU), the Youth expenses such as taxis or passes. and many of the adult patients can see the flowers of freedom and laughter in the sunshine. Wellness Unit (YWU) and the Adult Psychiatry Long-term benefits of having the Rooftop in bloom from their rooms,” says Taylor. “Patients “Without this Rooftop Garden, we would not have Unit at The Moncton Hospital. Garden include the possibility of decreasing have a sense of pride as well when the flowers that laughter. We would not have those moments of The PCAPU is a six-bed provincial tertiary care the length of stay needed for some patients, and they planted grow and bloom.” relief. It is a beautiful thing,” added Taylor. Meet our Board of Directors The Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation is proud to introduce our volunteer Board of Directors. We are grateful for the time, dedication and expertise these individuals give to the Friends to make it the strong and successful organization it is today. Chair, David Savoie Past Chair, Steve Fowler 1st Vice Chair, 2nd Vice Chair, Secretary, Linda Saunders Treasurer, Maria Cormie Patricia Armour Bill Hennessey Directors Ryan Dillon Nicole Légère-Doucet Rachelle Gagnon Dr. Paul Goobie Rob Hiscock Lisette Michaud Kent Robinson Lois Scott Nancy Parker, Executive Director of The Moncton Hospital, Ex-officio Meet our Staff Linda Saunders, CFRE Hélène Ouellette, CFRE Marianne Mepham-Newton, Julie Thébeau, CFRE Katherine Robertson Trevor MacDougall Pauline Theriault Janice Leger Jackie Prevost President & CEO Vice President, Development CFRE Director, Communications Community Engagement Director, Major Gifts Support Systems Analyst Foundation Associate Foundation Associate and Administration Director, Annual Giving Coordinator Your investmentRight now, helps it’s time revolutionize to give. patient care. GIVE NOW. www.FriendsFoundation.ca 3 Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation YOUR GIFTS AT WORK Your gifts help our Hospital’s most vulnerable patients medical team deliver the best and most innovative benefit from new Mobile Digital Radiology System care available. “This makes a huge difference in our ability to quickly diagnose and treat these tiny, premature babies.” Dr. Rody Canning If you are admitted to The Moncton Hospital as airways (tube to keep airway open), for example, an adult and you are in pain, an X-ray may be or see the extent of their lung damage instantly. ordered. We can treat these little babies so much more effi- If the doctor meets with you and tells you this is ciently. And that first hour is the golden hour. The what is happening and in 20 to 30 minutes, he or more we can accomplish and stabilize them, the she will have more insight into the exact source or better chance they have,” Canning explained. nature of your pain, as an adult you understand Prior to the purchase of this new technology, and do your best to wait calmly. the doctors had to use an analog Mobile Radiol- But for many of the patients Dr.