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Hospital uses technology to connect patients and residents with families

St. Joseph’s Hospital is employing technology to allow patients and residents to connect with their families, in a way they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
An iPad in the acute care ward of St. Joseph’s Hospital
An iPad in the acute care ward of St. Joseph’s Hospital is allowing patients to connect with their families. Another iPad is located in long-term care. Photo by David Willberg

St. Joseph’s Hospital is employing technology to allow patients and residents to connect with their families, in a way they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

Due to concerns over COVID-19, the public is unable to visit the hospital to see their family members, unless it is for compassionate reasons. So the hospital knew something was needed to allow families to still see their loved ones, even if it’s not in a conventional, personal fashion.

An iPad mounted on a repurposed IV stand serves as the mechanism to provide communication. One is located in the acute care area, and another is in long-term care.

“Using Facetime we are able to link the patient to their family and allow for visitation to occur,” said St. Joseph’s Hospital executive director Greg Hoffort.

The equipment allows a touch-free process, thereby maintaining a sterile environment. Equipment can be easily cleaned between patient visits.

Hoffort said the technology reflects the understanding of staff and managers to keep communication going between patients and families, and the importance to have family there during treatments.

“We were thinking of ideas to see what ways we could do this, so this was one of many ways we came up with and moved forward on as quickly as we could,” he said.

Patients, residents and their families have been very understanding. The hospital would never want to keep visitors away from patients, unless there was a situation like this. Recognizing the provincial direction, the hospital was pleased to bridge the gap and come up with something until things open up for visitors.

The communication is being facilitated by the St. Joseph’s recreation staff and spiritual care manager Marian Huber. She will take the mobile device into the patient’s room, establish the communication link with the family, and then leave them to have their chat. Once they’re finished, she takes the iPad to another room.

“The communication with family is so important to both patients and family and the use of technology has been very well received from both patients and family members,” said Huber.

It’s also been in-demand among patients and families.

“We’re able to keep up with the two iPads that we have, but the staff are always coming up with new ideas as far as maintaining or allowing communication,” said Hoffort.

Hospital employees have done an excellent job of assisting patients and residents with the technology. And typically families have someone who is technologically skilled enough for those outside the hospital.

Joyce Bonokoski is among those who has been quick to praise the system. Her mother-in-law Marieanna has been a patient in acute care since Feb. 23. Huber reached out to Joyce Bonokoski and her husband Gerald to see if they would be interested in a Facetime visit with Marieanna.

“She offered a couple of different kinds of ways of doing it; I chose FaceTime because that’s what I’m set up for on my phone,” Joyce Bonokoski said in an interview with Lifestyles. 

Marieanna talked much more than she normally does once it was a face to face conversation. Communicating through the camera on the iPad was a first-time experience for her.

“They set it up for her so that she could talk, and they explained it to her how it would work, and then we knew how to work it because we use it for ourselves for other purposes.”

The conversation happened Monday and lasted about 40 minutes, and they all enjoyed the experience. The technology worked great and there weren’t any problems.

The opportunity to connect with loves ones who are in the hospital is important, Bonokoski said, for all sides involved. She was speaking with someone in Creighton Lodge who misses that face-to-face contact.

“We didn’t have to wear the masks, so she could talk to us, without having to listen to us on the other side of the masks. She’s hard of hearing, and the masks cover up the mouth if you lip-read. So this way she was able to actually see us talking instead of being behind the mask, and that was really important for her. I think she really enjoyed that.”

The last time Bonokoski has been able to talk to her mother-in-law, without a mask, was Feb. 25, and the last time they saw her was in mid-March.

Bonokoski said knows of other elderly people who are phoning them because they’re getting really lonely, so she believes it would be nice if the technology could be expanded.

“I think this technology is an advantage over telephone even, especially for people that have a little bit of trouble hearing. They need to see your face.”

It allowed them to see that Marieanna Bonokoski was coping well in acute care, that she was doing as well as she claimed on the phone, and that she was up and moving about.

St. Joseph’s Hospital will continue to assist with patient family communication as long as necessary during this difficult time. Hoffort said the hospital is pleased that employees have made this communication possible when personal visits simply cannot be accommodated.