After a year of planning and fundraising, the refreshed and refurnished Day Rooms of the Epping Forest Unit are open. The team of therapists have worked so hard to achieve this and their efforts have been supported by the League of Friends of St. Margaret’s Hospital and by the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
The League of Friends donated £2015 and EPUT provided £9447 for the transformation of the rooms.
The team have been motivated by their belief that patients should be encouraged to increase activity and social interaction – whatever problems have brought them to the hospital as in-patients.
To encourage this new way of being in hospital, there was a need for spaces in which patients could be encouraged to get up and move for some time during the day; to meet other patients, talk, play games, watch TV together, enjoy pleasant, light and airy surroundings. This will all now help to prevent some of the problems which prolonged bed rest can cause for the body and the mind.
On 23rd July the rooms were opened for guests who have helped to finance the transformations. They saw new comfortable armchairs and coffee tables arranged in groups, cupboards full of board games, materials for craft activities and photos from past decades to help memories and get conversations going. Shelves full of books to read. Plants to admire, dining tables for meals with friends and relatives, views of the nearby Forest through large windows – and from time to time simple musical instruments to play together. There are bright framed paintings on the walls – created by art students from Harlow College. Visits by Epping Therapy dogs and their owners are welcomed and enjoyed.
The visitors to the Open Day were delighted and impressed by what has been achieved. The team of therapists greeted Louise Mead, Chair of Epping Forest District Council, who had come to see the rooms and hear about their purposes. Ms Mead has chosen the League of Friends as one of her charities for her year in office. She arrived during a lively music session in which patients and guests joined together; afterwards she commented: ‘What fantastic work everyone has done to get these rooms so inviting…the smiles on those patients’ faces were so heartwarming!’.
