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foreign
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hospitals around the world are
struggling to cope staff are often
stressed patients can feel isolated
but at this health facility in the US
their solution is to really get to know
their patients
did you go to Europe by yourself by
myself yeah and then I call the
highlight of my life I
believe that's amazing they're producing
short biographies to help patients and
staff you would see a resident and you
would think one thing but then when you
go and you read the memorial well book
you you just be like wow I didn't know
that you might be in a wheelchair but
you're still a person
Gray Birch in Maine they had a problem
that's typical of many hospitals after
the pandemic
staff were becoming burnt out and
turnover increased to 400 percent people
had become sick or financially there
were other opportunities for them that
were more rewarding and as we had more
turnover on our staff there's a lot of
new people that is helping care for
people who this is their home this is
where they are going to live out the
rest of their days
so Deidre was looking for something to
help those temporary staff connect
better with the patients
is there something we can do so that as
we have new staff working with our
residents they will have a little bit of
a bigger keyhole into kind of the person
they have been before so that they can
form relationships a little more quicker
My Hope was that it would make people
feel connected to the work they do here
and I hoped it would help retain some
staff
then did we found out about a company
called memory well they've been
producing short patient biographies in
other hospitals and it seemed to be
helping build those relationships
Dorothy hi I'm Amy I am today 85 year
old dot is telling her life story
Amy a social worker is asking the
questions and recording the answers what
is your fondest and our strongest
memories of your childhood the longest
memories
well first thing that comes to mind
right now was that in Quincy I was went
to a one-room schoolhouse
and we learned cursive handwriting
and Dot's life has been eventful she's
trained as an engineer she's been a
writer and she's traveled the world I
went to Europe with no plan no ticket
and I had a book this thick and this big
and it was a 0.5 dollars a day can you
imagine that
dot found the experience stirred up lots
of memories it was amazing because I
didn't know that I would be able to talk
that much and and think of so many
different ideas
what are the things that you hope the
nurses and the doctors when they read
the story what are the things that you
hope they will really notice
I don't know me as a person I guess and
and not as a patient that they have to
give pills to really would like that
I was quite amazed with Dorothy for a
lot of us we really don't think about
our journey and I think her saying it
out loud it made her think yeah I did do
a lot of things in my life
no
once Dot's life story is recorded it
gets sent to a professional writer from
memory well who turns it into something
for everyone to read
I find just the people's stories are are
fascinating
what's that line if you live past 40
there's at least one novel In You
I mean dot is really interesting I think
here she was she was trained as a
mechanical engineer didn't really want
to be her father pushed her into it she
became a writer and this is what I was
supposed to do and there's that through
line of her life where she thinks
because she is a person of such faith
that
it's how it's supposed to be
one person who's already had his
biography done is Jim Dennis he's been
in a wheelchair since he was a teenager
but that's not stopped him from leading
an active life the day after I came home
from the hospital I was out hunting
I told the nurse I'll see you during
hunting season
to which she responded was skepticism
and sure enough Jim and his dad showed
up at hunting season she couldn't
believe it she exclaimed oh my goodness
oh wow I never thought I was going to
CEO
Jim also had a successful career as a
racing driver
the night of my first win was just the
place was packed ironically I started on
the front row and I took the lead and
they embraced one caution free
and I led the whole race it was quite
nice that's for sure
the experiences that his story revealed
made the medical staff see beyond his
health issues and it's made a practical
difference to his treatment
we're catching him in a moment in time
when things aren't really all going his
way and you can't picture that not that
long ago he was in a race car and when
you put that together all of a sudden
you're like oh okay we need to get you
back to your best and I think your best
is better than what I thought it might
have been
and for Jim it's helped people see the
real person very important to me that
people look at you and they don't
stereotype you as hey you're in a
wheelchair
for the nursing staff at Gray Birch the
memory well stories can provide new ways
to look after patients who are upset or
whose behavior is challenging if we have
a patient who may be trying to leave the
facility what we do is we can refer back
to the memory well and from prior
experiences of their jobs like baking
carpentry things like that we can bring
out supplies that'll help them be active
at that moment with that and it
alleviates the behavior for the most
part Sharifah is one of the temporary
staff who move around different
hospitals the memory well stories make a
real difference being in a lot of
facilities coming to Maine and seeing
this memory well program I think it's
phenomenal because I did not in other
facilities see that so I think it's a
great program
for one of the senior nurses the life
stories have affected her on a personal
level her mother has dementia and is a
patient at Gray Birch a lot of people
actually were surprised by my Mom's
memory well a lot because where is she
so confused right now they didn't know
that she went to like say Harvard and
she has three kids and stuff like that
so I mean I think knowing that has made
all the difference in the world for her
people especially when they're first
admitted here
um you know they're scared they're
leaving a lot behind they're losing some
of their independence and I think this
is a real great way to kind of make them
feel more comfortable and understood and
heard
what she had was the book Europe on five
dollars a day and a huge suitcase which
she quickly got rid of in exchange for a
smaller more sensible suitcase shortly
after dot told her story to Amy the
written version is ready
she says her singleness of purpose is to
do God's will
that is wonderful
how does this make you feel
to know that you're getting your story
out there
it's good it's very good
memory Wells stories have helped more
than a thousand patients and their
carers to develop closer bonds
I wanted to treat people with the full
Dignity of their humanness you really
need to know more about them
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