Whittington hold community open day
On Wednesday 26 September the Whittington Hospital held its first open event for patients and public to meet our staff, sample the different ways in which departments function across the hospital and to see our wonderful new building.The day, which was visited by two first team Arsenal players Mathieu Flamini and Aliaksandre Hleb and saw 25 stalls set up from levels 0 to 4 in the atrium. A number of short talks were given in the undergraduate centre and some departments invited visitors ‘behind the scenes’. During tours of the pathology laboratories, visitors were allowed to view the blood transfusion, haematology and chemistry departments and in imaging guests were shown their state of the art machinery and voice recognition software. Visitors were also able to don a white disposable overall for a tour of the N19 kitchens where up to 900 lunches are served daily. In the oldest part of the hospital guests were taken through maternity and NICU, as well as the labour ward where 3,500 babies are delivered every year.
The short talks covered a range of topcs: Joint protection and energy conservation; Medicines use in the older person – how we are helping; Foundation trust – what does it mean for the Whittington?; Interview skills and recruitment tips; Diabetes care at the Whittington; and Putting senior nurses back on the wards.
Also present were the Whittington Hospital radio who played lively music on level 3, the nutrition team who gave out fresh fruit and members of the facilities department who invited visitors and staff to sample typical patient meals. The resuscitation team set out their wonderfully realistic dolls for staff and visitors to try life saving techniques, and on level 0 all were welcome to massages and other complimentary therapies. The Friends of the Whittington were also present, as were the smoking cessation team who offered advice on how to kick the habit. Arsenal players Mathieu Flamini and Aliaksandre Hleb enjoyed a walk around the stalls and signed up to become members of the Whittington hospital foundation trust.
The day ended with the annual general meeting, which was well attended by members of the public, staff from the hospital and community services, a local MP and journalists.The Foundation Trust project office would like to thank all the staff who enthusiastically informed members of the public about our foundation trust application and recruited them to become future members. During the course of the day the nutrition stall recruited 30 people interested in being foundation trust members, and they will receive a £50 Marks and Spencer gift voucher for their department as they successfully signed up the most members on the day. Dietician Aimee Pikoos, and student dieticians Gary Davidson and Nataly Kyriakidou worked on the stall on the day, and a special thank you to Stephanie Jones’ organisation and Paul Hepworth who kindly organised the fruit basket.
Last updated08 Oct 2007