Wall of Lamenting COVID-19 in a Regional Health Care Setting in Nova Scotia by Rev. Dr. Debra Orton
“I don’t know what else to do for my staff,” was the cry of one nursing manager as the stress related to COVID-19 began to build. At the Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville, NS, we were aware of the seriousness of the pandemic through media and social media reports coming from Asia and Europe. However, when it arrived in Canada in March 2020, it brought a new reality to the soberness of the pandemic, with health workers wearing masks for entire shifts, training for donning and doffing, and working with potential COVID-19 patients. When Team Lavender, a new peer-topeer support team at the Hospital, heard the cry for help, we put a plan together to support the emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being of health care workers. Although formal debriefs were
scheduled for staff and physicians, we soon realized how difficult it was for them to come to the hospital for selfcare on days off. That is when the ’Wall of Hope’ was created. On a blank wall in the hospital chapel, two clinical nurse educators drew a huge heart and painted their hands in it. They invited health care workers to paint their hands in and around the heart, as well, and soon a lineup formed from the chapel all the way down the hallway.
to celebrate one another and their family members. Some health care workers whose life partners work at the hospital painted their hands side by side. Others painted their hands on the wall alongside their colleagues. While others painted each of their hands in a different ... continued on page 8
The Wall of Hope became a place for health care workers to lament as well as
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