Donor’s generous gift adds more joy to Rehab Unit at NRGH
Photo: Courtney Stebbe, Jonathan Vanzella therapists in the Rehabilitation Unit at NRGH and patient G.S.
Phil and Kate Brookman
Living Their Values – Duty to Others
Phil Brookman became a Queen’s Scout as a youngster and always described himself as a Scout for life. It was visible in the way he embraced the organization’s core values, even up to just a few weeks before he passed away of cancer in October. He was always looking for ways to help and care for others – traits of a true Scout.
Phil and his wife Kate donated funds through the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation so that the Rehabilitation Unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital could acquire its own TrailRider instead of renting one, after reading a story about the equipment in the Foundation’s e-newsletter.
The TrailRider is a cross between a wheelchair and a stretcher, allowing patients to be taken out into nature and on excursions.
Photo: Phil and Kate Brookman
Although Phil retired as head of Physiotherapy at NRGH in 2000, he remained interested in the wellbeing of the department and the Rehabilitation Unit.
“He wanted to know what I thought after the newsletter article about the TrailRider caught his eye, specifically the fact that the therapists had to rent one when they wanted to take patients out,” Kate says Phil wished they had something like that when he was still working. They both had been regular donors to the Foundation for a long time but were looking to give something that was close to their hearts.
“Phil was big on nature and the outdoors. Nanaimo and the surrounding areas were heaven to him. Some of his favourite activities were hiking and technical mountain climbing and by donating the funds for the TrailRider, patients could experience a part of what he loved.”
Kate was a Girl Guide in England and continued her involvement in Guiding after the couple immigrated to Canada in 1970, offered the position in Nanaimo in 1979.
“I remember exclaiming, ‘But there’s nothing there!’ when he told me of the offer. Little did I know how happy we would be here!”
Phil’s specialty in his field of Physiotherapy was cardiology and pulmonology. He also worked in the ICU and burn unit. Apart from leading and building the Physiotherapy department in Nanaimo, he was instrumental in hiring the first respiratory technicians here and saw it grow into an independent department.
Having trained as a nurse back in England, Kate got work as a RN in ICU as well as the Orthopaedics and Urology wards in Nanaimo util her retirement in 1988.
She reflects on how different their perspectives were in life and in work. “I, as a nurse and caregiver, just wanted to get things done as efficiently as possible. Phil, on the other hand, was always looking for the long-term solution.”
A lasting legacy to NRGH’s Rehabilitation Unit
Courtney Stebbe and Jonathan Vanzella, therapists at the NRGH Rehabilitation Unit, saw Brookman’s gift as a long-term solution right away when the TrailRider was unpacked. They were elated when they learned that the donation would cover one TrailRider completely.
Offering Recreational Therapy as part of their rehab program aims to improve the patient’s physical, cognitive, social as well as emotional function.
They took their first patient out for an adaptive hike on their own TrailRider on a crisp Fall day in October last year. The lucky patient chose Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” to play during the outing, which was a perfect choice to mark the occasion.
“We are very happy and grateful to have our own TrailRider now,” said Courtney. “The TrailRider will also help to get patients who have problems with balance or gait away from the hospital. We have had patients in hospital for more than 100 days in the past.”
Jonathan remembered a 103-year-old lady: “We take things for granted, but she was smiling, pointing at flowers and trees as if seeing it for the first time!” She chose classical music to be played on her rides.
Jonathan also tells about a young male patient on the unit who would, upon seeing the borrowed TrailRider when it arrived, exclaim “I’m going on that today!”.
He reiterates that the patients are definitely more settled after an outing on the TrailRider. It breaks up the institutionalized routine and enhances their quality of life.
For now, Beaufort Park Community Garden across from the hospital in Nanaimo serves well to accomplish the goal, but the therapists hope to take the patients further afield, maybe Departure Bay Beach or the boardwalks at Rathtrevor Beach.
For that, a bus or van is needed, which is far out of reach at the moment. But we can dream, can’t we? After all, Phil and Kate fulfilled the rehab unit’s need of a TrailRider!
