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Give the Gift of Mobility on Giving Tuesday

November 29, 2022

Your support today will have double the impact

The Liko Ultra LiftPants are one of the mobility aids that will ensure patient and staff safety as patients re-learn to walk, which is an essential part of their recovery in the IICU.

Kind. Caring. Inspiring.

These words describe the staff of HSC Winnipeg’s Intermediate Intensive Care Unit (IICU), who work tirelessly to help patients on their recovery journey. These words also describe you, our generous community, who can help the IICU staff continue the remarkable work they do daily. Your donations on Giving Tuesday will help purchase much-needed mobility aids and walking equipment for the IICU, ensuring quicker recovery times and a safer recovery journey for patients and staff.

The role of the IICU is to treat patients who have less-serious medical needs and no longer need the care of an ICU, but often need to re-learn how to move, swallow, or even breathe on their own. The road to recovery looks different for each patient, who may need care from various medical and rehabilitation professionals, but most need to re-learn to use their arms and legs to varying degrees. Using their arms and legs, especially the thigh muscles, helps release growth hormones in the body, which speeds up recovery times. Your support will give patients the opportunity to learn to re-use their bodies in ways that best suit their abilities and medical needs.

IICU staff currently use dated mobility equipment that does not account for the individual needs of each patient. The new equipment, which consists of state-of-the-art lifts, support frames, and walking systems, will allow staff to help rehabilitate patients sooner and safer. This is known to improve recovery times, get patients off ventilators sooner, and improve muscle strength—all while considering the health, ability, and lifestyle of the patient.

“We’re trying to get patients back to being more independent and back to their baseline function. This new equipment will help them do that,” says Allie Blazek, Clinical Resource Nurse in the IICU.

Shannon Smith, Allie Blazek, Tracy Simcoe, and Dr Adrian Robertson.

Staff of HSC Winnipeg’s IICU, pictured left to right: Shannon Smith, Physiotherapist; Allie Blazek, Clinical Resource Nurse; Tracy Simcoe, Manager of IICU and Respiratory Therapy; Dr Adrian Robertson, IICU Medical Director.

“In the IICU, we specialize in patients who need more care to get better. Our ability to provide this care is dependent on this multidisciplinary team that works so hard, and for so long, to help patients achieve small milestones,” says Dr. Adrian Robertson, Medical Director of the IICU.

As Shannon Smith, Physiotherapist on the IICU, says, “being able to achieve milestones like being able to sit up and take that first step is fundamental to a patient’s recovery. This new equipment will help patients achieve milestones sooner during their stay. When patients reach those milestones, staff notice a big improvement in their morale, which in turn helps them achieve the next milestone sooner.”

Your support on Giving Tuesday will help make those milestones happen.

“This new equipment won’t be possible without the support of donors,” says Tracy Simcoe, Manager of the IICU and Respiratory Therapy.

On Giving Tuesday, consider a gift to the Intermediate Intensive Care Unit to help the many Manitobans who rely on the IICU team.

This year, Giving Tuesday gifts will be matched by up to $15,000!  The Just Like New To You thrift store will match gifts made through our website or by phone up to $10,000; if you would like to donate by text, Manitoba pork producers will match all texted-in donations up to $5,000.

To make your gift now, please click here and select “Giving Tuesday” from the drop-down menu; call us at 204-515-5612 or 1-800-679-8493 (toll-free); or text HSCF to 20222 to donate $20 now (tax receipts will be issued via Mobile Giving Foundation).

 

By Andrew Lysack

 

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