CORNWALL, Ontario – The Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) recently celebrated the work of their Personal Support Workers (PSWs).
Being in hospital is often some of the most trying time in someone’s life, and it can be made all the more difficult without a friendly face and a calm hand. This describes the experience of a woman who the CCH only named as Sandy came to the hospital after her 83-year-old father was admitted to the Emergency Room.
Sandy’s father is described as being delirious upon her arrival at the hospital, a matter made only worse by his dementia. It was quickly determined that Sandy’s father would need emergency gallbladder surgery.
While in his stressed and combative state, Sandy and her father came into contact with their first PSW at the hospital, Charles Edouard, who provided a calming presence as Sandy’s dad was guided to the operating room.
There are 41 PSWs who are employed at the CCH and their primary responsibility it to help patients with walking, eating and using the washroom. They provide critical support during difficult and vulnerable moments in patients lives.
After his surgery, Sandy’s father was placed on a ventilator, and then eventually moved to the surgical floor where again he was under the watchful care of PSWs, this time Gail Leroux, Cheryl Bishop and Lise Levasseur.
“As an only child and sole caregiver for Dad, I could leave the hospital to eat or sleep and know that Dad would be looked after and was in excellent hands. The P.S.W.s were such a huge help to both Dad and I, a God send really, watching over him, keeping him occupied with activities and taking him for walks when I couldn’t be there, and helping with toileting. They were also very empathetic with me and helped alleviate any of my concerns throughout the entire week,” said Sandy. “Everyone we encountered in each and every department was pleasant, caring, professional and patient. Not one department let me down during our visit and I wanted others to know about our positive experience.”
Sandy’s father has since recovered from his surgery and has returned to his retirement home.
