Staff trek raises hundreds for a sensory garden for patients with brain injuries
Neuro Rehabilitation Unit staff have raised hundreds of pounds for the development of a sensory garden.
The staff from the Neath Port Talbot Hospital ward were joined by a former patient and patients’ families on a ten mile walk from Swansea to Mumbles and back.
They raised more than £1,500 through sponsorship and a bucket collection en route, which is to go towards enhancing a sensory garden at the hospital.
Ward manager Nathan Riddle said: “The garden benefits patients with brain injuries because it helps reconnect with their senses, which they sometimes lose the ability to do.
“It can be difficult for them to control and regulate their emotions, so the garden creates a calming environment.
“By creating a calming sensory garden, patients will have a calm and peaceful area to relax and reconnect with their emotions, and it’s a
place where families can come with them and sit outside in some fresh air, away from the daily routine of the ward.
“The money we’ve raised means we can do a lot more with it.”
Matron Louise Bowen added: “The team have really contributed to fundraising for the garden and I would like to thank them for all their hard work and dedication.”
The Neuro Rehabilitation Unit is a regional service covering from Aberystwyth to Bridgend. The unit helps rehabilitate patients with acquired and traumatic brain injuries with staff experienced in the field on neuro rehabilitation.
Patients on the Neuro Rehab Unit can often spend many months to a year rehabilitating.
A sensory garden enables more rehabilitation therapies outdoors for patients during their long stays on the unit, and enables them to reconnect with nature.
The money raised is to be used to install sensory features including a water feature and wind chimes, to let patients use their hearing and vision senses.
Its herb garden will be made more accessible to patients for touch and smell, as well as tactile surfaces for touch, and sheltered areas will be created so that patients can use the garden in all weathers.
The Neuro Rehabilitation Unit has musicians who attend the ward to perform for patients, and the new garden will have a social space for outdoor performances and summer parties for patients, friends and families.
Swansea Bay Health Charity is the official charity of Swansea Bay University Health Board.
With your help the charity raises money for pioneering research, cutting-edge equipment, enhancing buildings and spaces, patient and family wellbeing and staff training which are not covered by core NHS funding.
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