Since March of 2020, the COVID-19 virus and its variants have plagued our community, isolated residents in long-term care centres and overloaded our hospitals. Through it all, health care providers have put themselves at the greatest risk to ensure the health and safety of our community. Our health care heroes have not only risen to the challenge and demands of increasing medical complexities, but worn additional hats, including social worker, technology expert, friend and family, grief counsellor, comforter and confidante, while caring for patients and high risk populations.
In Calgary and surrounding communities, just over 38,000 health care providers, 3,000 physicians, and 4,900 volunteers have been at the forefront of this tenacious pandemic response. These brave individuals have endured ongoing challenge, stress, and fatigue, that has earned them the title of “health care heroes”.
Join Calgary Health Foundation, Oxford Properties, and EllisDon as we fundraise to develop rejuvenating outdoor courtyard spaces at each hospital and long term care centres for our health care heroes to enjoy a temporary, quiet respite from the demands of caring for others.
With an increase in intensive care hospitalizations in the fourth wave, our health care professionals remain on the front-line, responding to the heightened demand for care. This investment in building rejuvenating spaces for health care staff is our opportunity as a community to show our appreciation and say thank you.
We aim to bring an outdoor space to life, focused on creating an oasis for physical and emotional rejuvenation for our health care heroes. Research has demonstrated the many benefits of respite and rejuvenation spaces for teams, such as:
- Helping to reduce stressors and increase overall mental health,
- Improving mental sharpness and attentiveness,
- Enhancing creativity and problem solving,
- A safe space, temporarily away from responsibilities to recharge energy and renew focus,
- Connecting informally with multidisciplinary teams to create more collaborative environments, and
- Increasing shared experiences, collaboration, and engagement amongst staff.
It is our goal to ensure that all hospitals are equipped with a beautiful and calming respite area for the staff. Our goal is to raise a minimum of $250,000 with the opportunity to enhance the spaces with many rejuvenating features. Foothills Medical Centre’s employee respite space has already been funded, and launched to appreciative AHS health care heroes on September 7th, 2021.
Construction for the exterior work at South Health Campus commenced Fall of 2022 and was completed Spring of 2023. Staff have really enjoyed having this beautiful space to recharge!
Calgary’s health care providers have continued to be there for us. Now, it’s time for us to show up for them. #hearts4healthcareheroes
Watch to learn more about the new respite space at Foothills Medical Centre located on the west side of the Women’s Health Tower, courtesy of EllisDon. This space opened to AHS staff on September 7th, 2021.
