AGEL Makes Patients Feel at Home

BUSINESS AGEL Makes Patients Feel at Home High quality healthcare, as well as a welcoming environment where patients can feel at home, is the motto that Vítkovice Hospital (part of the AGEL group) followed during its structural remodeling over the course of the past year. Its goal was to separate aftercare, puerperal care, surgery and rehabilitation. The “retro-room,” decorated with furniture from the 60s and 70s, is guaranteed to take patients and visitors back in time, and it has already generated quite an interest. This room was mainly created to house aftercare patients. The room is fitted with a retro style couch, armchairs, a large table with eight chairs and a small library with books and magazines. The 4x8m room is a place in which seniors can socialize, spend free time, meet visitors or rehabilitate. A Place Full of Memories All the furniture in the room was donated by volunteers. “We published a Facebook post on the hospital’s page concerning our intention of creating a retro-room, and we immediately got responses from people wanting to donate furniture. Thanks to these donations, we were able to open the room for patients as early as a year ago,” said Lenka Holubová, a station nurse in the aftercare ward. The room is having a positive effect on seniors and their memory. In the historical environment, they recall many Nový „Retropokoj“ na oddělení následné péče Vítkovické nemocnice 30 ǀ POSITIV 4/2019 seemingly forgotten memories, and can better practise brain functions. “During their stay, patients recall many different memories from childhood, they can go back in time to when they were spending most of their time with their parents and grandparents,” Holubová added. The retro room is also used by workers in rehabilitation who practise various cognitive functions with patients, working on memory skills or recognizing objects, or playing diverse educational games. At the same time, there are also numerous art workshops and recently they have added music therapy. “Many women from the ADRA volunteering organisation often stop by the room as well. They talk to the patients, play board games with them and even work with them to produce gift items as part of work therapy,” Holubová explained. Fiction and historical novels are in high demand in the rooms library, along with the AGEL magazine and other publications from the past, such as Květy or Vlasta.