News

Sunlight a tonic for MBH intensive care patients

Fri, 03 Jan 2020 04:16:00

A long-awaited goal of Mildura Base Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit team has come to fruition – thanks to the generosity of a Mildura construction company.

The hospital’s most unwell patients now have access to an outdoor courtyard, a key step forward in providing holistic health care to aid physical and mental health and improve patient recovery, experiences and outcomes.
King Construction Group has recently completed the $4.5 million upgrade of the hospital’s ICU and Mental Health Units and after work was finished, took up the opportunity to donate the time and resources to build an ICU courtyard.
Nurse Unit Manager Sue Hale said the outdoor courtyard area had long been at the top of the wish-list for the unit’s staff.
“It’s all about holistic health care and it will be fantastic to be able to get some of our most unwell patients out of the confines of the ICU and out into the sunlight and the outdoors,” Ms Hale said.
“Research and our own experiences tell us that exposure to daylight is incredibly important, especially for patients on ventilation, because it plays a major role in reducing the incidence and severity of delirium,” she said.
“Just being in a hospital and ICU setting is a risk factor for delirium, and it’s something we need to do as much as we can to manage because of the impact it can have on the patient’s recovery and outcomes once they go home.”
King Construction Group Managing Director Dale King said he welcomed the opportunity to donate materials and labor to the project.
“We’ve been really pleased and proud to do the ICU upgrade and expansion because of the positives it’s providing for patients and their families, the staff and the community as a whole,” Mr King said.
“Along the way, staff told me about how important it is to be able to give patients access to an outdoor area, so when we were asked about making an in-kind contribution for the courtyard, I was so pleased to be able to do it.”
Construction work on the courtyard is now complete, and beautification work using grapevines and garden plantings will be carried out.
Ms Hale said the courtyard was the finishing touch to the $2.3 million ICU upgrade.
“The upgrade is fantastic because it means all our patients now have much better natural light in their rooms. But the opportunity to get our patients out of the hospital environment, even for just a little while is wonderful and we’re just so pleased this has happened.”

Pictured: IC Outdoor area Image 2 names: (Left to right) Don Palazzo MBH General Manager of Resources and Facilities; King Construction Group managing director Dale King; MBH CEO Julia Morgan; consultant anaesthetist Dr Alison Walker; ICU Nurse Unit Manager Sue Hale.