Passion Projects 2018 Showcase
On Wednesday, 19th September, during the 3rd celebration of Person and Family Cantered Care Week, we had a chance to look back at the last year’s Passion Projects. It was amazing to hear how Friends supported Consumer driven projects which led to improvements in treatment options, as well as interior designs enhancements within care facilities. Guest speakers used the opportunity to express their appreciation of support that Friends provided to these projects and shared stories about projects initiation, delivery and outcomes. Out of 24 nominations received in 2017, review panel has selected 4 projects which received grants of $5000 each.
Allied Health, Aboriginal Liaison and Women’s and Babies Division
Tara Beaumont spoke about project success and how it helped raise awareness about physio treatment options in antenatal care for Aboriginal women. Project focus was co-design of a culturally appropriate antenatal physio education session in collaboration with consumers. This cooperation led to improvements in the way sessions are being delivered to consumers, which enabled better understanding of the care options and increased consumer engagement. Pilot group sessions showed to be a huge success, as the attendance for 3 sessions, held over three months period, was double than the whole year 2017.
Child Adolescent Mental Health Services
Kerry Sierp and Vicki Miller presented My Space, project aiming to enhance the look and feel of the Helen Mayo House rooms. Feedback, from current and previous consumers, offered insights about improvement opportunities which can contribute to enrichment of overall experience during stays at Helen Mayo House. Items that were purchased to accomplish this include colorful quilts, pillows, music, yoga equipment, books for infants and sensory distractions. One of the consumers, which has witnessed these changes first hand, has summed up the project beautifully: “It has taken it from a really bad 1980’s Hotel to a place that fells more homely. It shows that you care.”
Dialysis and Medical Day Unit Paediatric Medicine
Rachel spoke about her daughter’s medical treatments and how they have inspired her to look for ways to make them less stressful. The research she had done in collaboration with Muddy Paddles Foundation showed that VR technology can be beneficial in managing the stress during minor procedures and this led her to apply for the grant.
Kathryn Boundy from the Paediatric Medicine Renal Unit shared the positive effect Virtual Reality technology had on the children and how it transformed stressful and painful procedures to almost effortless. It proved to be an amazing distracting tool which shifted child’s focus from unpleasant needles insertion and similar procedures at dialysis and medical day unit. The consumer response was so good, that other units in the health network are considering implementing the VR technology in their areas too.
Total of six units were purchased to support this project.
Youth and Women's Safety and Wellbeing Division
Over 1500 kids in SA are homeless and it is estimated that over 44,000 Australian young people don’t have a safe space to sleep. Annie Catanzariti, which initiated this project, shared an overview of Youth Homelessness Project and the benefits it offered to homeless youth that is utilising the shelter. This project was a collaboration of My Youth, Homeless Outreach Clinic and Baptist youth homeless care shelter. Aim of the project was to transform the additional shelter space to expand and enrich the usable area of the shelter. The funding enabled purchase of sensory items, such as rocking chair, egg capsule, toys as well as the engagement of a community artist which painted murals on the walls. Annie shared photos of the project progress and outcome. She also emphasised how the improvements led to increased numbers of youth staying in the shelter, improved social interaction among residents and reduced property damage. Residents of the shelters had a lot of positive comments about the new look of the shelter including Damon who said: “Dope butter! It’s killa”.
The Friends of WCH will continue to support Passion Projects in 2019. Applications are now open and will close on the 17th October 2018. WCHN staff, WCHN teams and Consumer Representatives who can clearly demonstrate the promotion of consumer-led quality improvement activities are encouraged to apply. All successful applications are required to be completed within a six month period and evaluated by 30 June 2019.
For more information about the application process and details of previous Passion Projects, visit the WCH website.
If you would like to make a donation towards 2019 Passion projects visit Friends donate page.
View the complete showcase below