Last week our school had a "Student Appreciation Day" where there was an abundance of food trucks, music and fun for the students and faculty. I had a fantastic time eating wings, talking with classmates, and enjoying the day (it was a Monday and those days are typically difficult to enjoy!). Truly, it was a fun time and a great break from the chaos of school. While some people might have just looked at this as an opportunity for yummy free food, it reminded me of the great things in life I tend to forget! So often I get wound up on little assignments or tests and quizzes that I forget to enjoy life and appreciate the opportunities before me. In all honesty it really is the little things in life that can make a big difference, and how much more so do these things affect someone who cannot go out and experience them for themselves? This got me to thinking -- how do people who are in a hospital enjoy their time? I know that some places offer community services and activities where the occupants have opportunities to socialize and play games, but what about those places that don't offer these opportunities? What about hospitals that offer no escape from the beeping of monitors, pacing of family members and talking of the practitioners. One comment that I heard about hospitals is the lack of any type of setting where it remotely resembles the outside world such as a coffee shop. Honestly, anything other than the fluorescent lighting and bland walls usually encountered in medical settings could provide a haven for occupants and their loved ones. Even though it may seem trivial to some, I think that giving people the opportunity to get out and away from their rooms to at least have the feeling of being away from the hospital gives people the opportunity to remember the outside world and appreciate life. I think there is a huge need for proactive thinking in the medical field when it comes to addressing people's needs from an emotional and social aspect. Yes, health professionals should focus on physical stabilization and the hospital is not a place primarily focused on entertainment, but perhaps there is more to recovery than a discharge note saying that the client completed goals and is ready to go home. Occupational therapists can play a role in development of programs that are meaningful to clients in more than just re-integration to previous life but also enjoying the time of life presently experienced as well, even if the current life isn't the ideal one. After all, if something like the option to enjoy free food at school can provide me a much needed break from the chaos of school, how much more can a resource aimed at providing a reminder of the fun and enjoyable parts in life be for someone who has no ability to escape the frustrations and boredom so often encountered in the hospital?
Something I have been accustomed to growing up are the phrases "shake it off" or "suck it up" after falling down or sustaining an injury. Having grown up in a family where there were many children to support on a tight budget, I understood the fact that a hospital visit was the last resort. Undoubtedly this has facilitated my understanding that you shrug it off and move on. To a certain extent, I agree with this ideal. However, after learning the extreme results of certain injuries and their lifelong effects, I may have my future child's doctor on speed dial! Something that continued to bother me during the story of nurse, Dawn Pereda, was the fact that her own facility where she worked sent her home after she sustained a severe head injury. It wasn't until hours after alarming symptoms began to appear that she was screened for an injury. By this point, it was too late. Now life relies on a schedule that must be maintained or she will not be able to
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