The room is full in the afternoon. It makes things lively!
Réjeanne Fabi is holding one of the therapy dolls in her arms. She’s smiling, talking to it, cuddling it and laughing. She loves these dolls so much she has hidden them so no one steals them from her. It’s been impossible to find them since she left!
Elderly patients like Réjeanne who arrive at the Hospital’s short-term geriatric unit on 7 South often feel uprooted. They might suffer from anxiety, agitation and dementia, making their stay hard on them and on their families.
These patients with neurocognitive disorders need an adapted therapeutic environment to improve their daily lives during their hospital stay. This has been achieved with the creation of a Snoezelen-inspired room, a multisensory relaxation room—paid for by YOUR donations!
An environment like this helps families start conversations more easily with their loved ones and makes their visits enjoyable. It also helps care staff create relationships with patients who are often agitated and stressed. But above all, it helps our patients, by making their hospital stay pleasant and less stressful. A wonderfully human-centred project, made possible by your commitment to stand with us.
What is a Snoezelen multisensory room?
Patients hospitalized in the geriatric unit at Hôpital Charles-Le Moyne now have access to a space that promotes wellbeing. The space consist of:
- A relaxation corner with armchairs and a projector that shows comforting images: landscapes, family photos, memories from their native country or images of their pet back at home.
- A library corner with all kinds of therapeutic objects to manipulate, including therapy dolls, puzzles and various sensory objects.
- A family space equipped with a television so that patients can stay connected to their environment, and an interactive console that projects games and images to stimulate the senses and encourage patients to move.
- A kitchen corner where families can bring homemade meals to their loved one in the Hospital.
This brand new multisensory relaxation room in the geriatric unit was funded thanks to you and, above all, the generous participants in the Liberty Lotto.
Through your support, we can help reduced the aggression and apathy in our elderly patients, stimulate their senses, alleviate their pain, improve their sleep and encourage greater social interaction.
The first of its kind in a Québec hospital centre!
The project to create a multisensory room was achieved in collaboration with the Institut de gériatrie de Montréal. Hôpital Charles-Le Moyne is the first hospital centre in Québec to offer a multisensory room. Most of these multisensory environments are found in living environments for seniors, like residential and long-term care centres.
