THUNDER BAY – Healthbeat – The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is a busy place. Often, patients or visitors require assistance getting to wherever they need to go within the facility. Thanks to a Family CARE (Care Advancements Recommended by Employees) Grant from the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation, access and transportation within the facility is a lot easier.
The grant – one out of 49 Family CARE grants awarded last year – was used to purchase two brand new STAXI wheelchairs to be used by the Health Sciences Centre main lobby volunteers.
“The STAXI Wheel Chairs are a welcome addition to our existing fleet of lobby wheelchairs,” says Elizabeth Straiton, Manager, Volunteer Services. “The Information Desk volunteers use them to take patients and visitors who require assistance getting around to various locations.”
Heavy traffic coming through the Health Sciences Centre on a daily basis often meant the Information Desk volunteers didn’t have enough transportation wheelchairs at hand. The two new chairs will reduce the amount of time the volunteers spend searching for an available one, and patients and visitors won’t have to wait for assistance – ultimately resulting in better care.
The new chairs are nice and big, with a weight capacity of 500 pounds.
“These truly are our chair of choice for the Main Lobby as they are easy to push and the bright blue colour makes them easily identifiable,” says Straiton. “We’re grateful to the Family CARE Grants for providing the necessary funds to purchase the much-needed chairs.”
Family CARE Grants are funded entirely through your kind donations. All donations to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation stay in Northwestern Ontario to advance patient care. To contribute, please call 345-4673 or visit www.healthsciencesfoundation.ca
Photograph: Dolores Mechtab, President of the Volunteer Association, takes one of the two new STAXI wheelchairs for a test run. The purchase of the wheelchairs was made possible by a Family CARE Grant and will help improve patient care at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.