The business challenge of the Hospital Recreation Project | Tech Reddy

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Roger Hamel of CDI International is leading a community business challenge with the goal of raising funds to purchase 15 TVs for the High River District Health Care Foundation’s Patient Entertainment Project. In a few short weeks, he already has 12 businesses on board.

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“Roger reached out to the Foundation shortly after the dinner and auction in October and wanted to begin the business challenge of delivering televisions to patients as quickly as possible. He came to see us on November 2 and we booked 15 for TV. “Within a week, he had over half the businesses commit to his challenge,” said Cathy Couey, Fund Development and Communications Officer with the High River District Health Care Foundation.

It’s a $1,500 commitment for one TV, installation and part of the utility bill going forward.

“Television has been on my radar for several years as a project but never went anywhere until Glenn Woolgar, a member of the Highwood Lions, reached out last Spring after visiting a friend who didn’t have any source of television service in their apartment. He could see that his friend was feeling low and the days were long. He found that there was nothing that could help his friend recover or improve his hospital stay. He came into our office and said, ‘How can we make this happen?’ “That got the ball rolling and it was all we needed to start building a plan with hospital administrators and our providers,” Couey said.

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The staff at Superior Hospital care about the patient experience and believe that fun and communication are important elements in the healing process. When a patient has to stay in the hospital, television can be a good distraction. Patients and families benefit from being able to distract their minds, even for a short time, from the usual stressful times.

The Patience Entertainment Foundation’s project is to fund 50 health grade televisions. This project will be a ten-year long-term commitment in order to ensure access to free cable and fill the gap between the generations, who prefer traditional television services while caring.

“Healthcare-grade televisions mean they can be wiped clean, disinfected easily and withstand all detergents,” explained Couey. “In a two-person room, they’ll be on the arm and they’ll have 17-inch TVs and in a single, private room, they’ll be large wall-mounted TVs.”

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The High River District Health Care Foundation, along with its major funding partners, the Highwood Lions Club and the High River Hospital Auxiliary, have launched a public fundraising campaign for a new TV and free service in the acute care, third floor , of the hospital. in the first part of October.

“The campaign goal is $250,000. The Foundation is happy to announce that through their funding partners, they started the project with $ 60,000 and almost 25% of the goal. “The Highwood Lions Club gave us $15,000 and the Auxiliary gave us $45,000,” Couey said. “The Gala in October raised $123,000 for the Patient Entertainment Project. Now we can start the process and we know it’s going to change quickly and we hope to have these new television sets installed in the new year.”

Everyone in the community can get involved by making a donation of any size. There will be $5 at the Tip Tap machines located at the hospital and at Colossi’s Coffee House or you can donate online at www.highriverhealthfoundation.ca.