Our Stories was created to provide an opportunity for Western Health employees to tell their stories. These stories will feature our staff, physicians and volunteers and their amazing work as they deliver Western Health’s programs and services to the people in our region. We hope you enjoy reading Our Stories and getting to know more about Our People and how they work with Our Communities to help the people in our region to be Healthy Together.
Benjamin Kennedy lives at Bonne Bay Health Centre (BBHC) in the Long Term Care Unit (LTC). The 34-year-old spent his career working offshore as a sailor in the Canadian Arctic. In the fall of 2015, Ben suffered an aneurysm that left him hospitalized, unable to move or communicate, and with very little hope in terms of making a significant recovery.
Continue reading Long Term Care Resident Has an Positive Impact at Bonne Bay Health Centre
There is something about nature that brings people together. Conversations around growing things create a bond of caring and sharing. Getting your hands dirty is a bonus.
Continue reading SucSeed Garden- An Invitation to Get Your Hands Dirty
There is a lot Bonnie Chaulk cannot put into words.
How does a Registered Nurse from Newfoundland Labrador explain the three weeks she helped strangers cope with a COVID-19 outbreak in Ontario? How does she write about the camaraderie that developed between strangers? The suffering of patients, and the look in their eyes when a front line heath care worker shared a moment of kindness.
The simple truth is that she cannot.
Continue reading Registered Nurse Bonnie Chaulk Inspired By Experience at Toronto General Hospital
Jodie Perry and Joy Green were the first Public Health Nurses to participate in Western Health’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
“This is the most powerful and rewarding experience I have ever encountered,” says Perry, a 2001 graduate of Western Regional School of Nursing (WRSON). “As Public Health Nurses, we reach different members of our community, from young families to senior citizens. We see firsthand how this pandemic is impacting everyone, and what a world without public health and vaccines looks like. This past year has shown us what is truly important in life.”
In High School, Christine Simms did not know what she wanted to do for a career. She enjoyed science courses and helping in the lab as a Biology prefect. Fortunately, a university professor working at the High School asked her what she was interested in pursuing in University. She knew she wanted to work with the deaf and hard of hearing and he recommended audiology.
Continue reading Audiologists Improve Quality of Life by Improving Communication Abilities
Shawn Cooper grew up in Fortune, Newfoundland, and attended nursing school at The Grace General Hospital in St. John’s, graduating in 1996. Shortly after, he moved to Gander where he practiced for 16 years in ICU/Emergency Department. While working as a site coordinator, Shawn was encouraged to continue his education. Since he missed having direct contact with patients, he started thinking about the option of becoming a Nurse Practitioner (NP). Shawn decided to enroll in the post RN Nurse Practitioner program at MUN through distance in 2009.
Continue reading Highlighting a Nurse Practitioner and their Role in the Community
The Parkinson Society of Newfoundland, in partnership with Western Health, has been delivering a speech education program in the Western region since 2009 and the most recent one was held this fall. Throughout the program, participants learn how Parkinson’s disease can impact speaking, eating, swallowing and communication. The program is led by a Speech-Language Pathologist who provides strategies for participants to improve their speech, communication and swallowing behaviours in the group sessions.
Continue reading A Valuable Partnership: The Parkinson’s Speech Education Program
With October being Occupational Therapy month, Western Health is featuring one of our own Occupational Therapists who has been making many positive contributions to the health and well being of patients, clients and residents in the Bonne Bay/ Port Saunders area for many years. Continue reading Highlighting the profession of Occupational Therapy at Western Health
Although Mrs. Margaret Organ has been retired from teaching for more than 20 years, it is obvious to anyone who knows her that her teaching career meant a lot to her. The Long Term Care resident at Bonne Bay Health Centre was thrilled to visit students in the classroom this past spring. Mrs. Organ very much enjoyed her afternoon with Kindergarten and Grade 1 students at Gros Morne Academy.
Across Canada, one in five long term care (LTC) residents is on antipsychotics medications without an appropriate diagnosis. Western Health, along with the other Regional Health Authorities in the province are currently engaged in a Nationwide Collaborative to help address this very issue. Since this began, we have been seeing some wonderful results and hearing amazing stories of how individuals’ lives have been improved by the work we are doing. Here is one of those stories.
After nearly 50 years of marriage, David Clothier (Dave) had become his wife, Madonna’s (Donna) caregiver in their family home for 2 years. After some time, Dave began to realize he would not be able to continue being the primary caregiver for his wife because he had concerns for her safety, and it was extremely demanding.