Goodall Hospital Introduces New Program Led by Volunteers

Goodall Hospital is pleased to announce the start of a new program….Sharp Minds, Strong Bodies.

Sharp Minds, Strong Bodies is a program developed to improve our patient’s experience while staying with us by offering them stimulating, engaging activities to do. The program was established and is supported through grant monies received from the Davis Family Foundation and is primarily run by a group of trained volunteers.

The Program is being piloted on Goodall’s Medical/Surgical Unit, Marland II. Each morning a volunteer visits the patient rooms to offer them a variety of items they may use.  These items include twelve iPad2s loaded with over one hundred applications including books and mentally stimulating games and activities.

Kurtis Grant, one of Goodall’s dedicated volunteers, spent over one hundred hours setting up each of the twelve iPad2, which also provide access to the internet for our patients. There is also an iPad2 set up specifically for use by the sight impaired.  In addition there are audio books, courtesy of the Maine State Library’s BARD Program, for the sight impaired.

For patients who prefer non-technological related activities we have newspapers, magazines, and brain teasers such as Sudoku, crossword puzzles, and jumbles. And all of the paper products are the patients to keep!

In addition the program offers board games such as checkers, backgammon, cribbage, chess, scrabble, dominoes, and playing cards so the patients can pass the time with their visitors. We also have items for our younger patients and guests, such as coloring books, puzzles, reading books, and games like Uno and CandyLand.

If you would like more information regarding Goodall’s Sharp Minds, Strong Bodies Program, please feel free to contact Joanne Livingston, Volunteer Coordinator, 207-490-7027, info@goodallhospital.org.