The Peoplefirst Rehabilitation Team at the Kindred Hospital Las Vegas Sahara campus has always worked to
encourage the Rehab Gym to be a place to work, gather and even do a little
socializing. Our “puzzle gallery” began
with an Occupational Therapy patient in October 2009 and a donated picture
puzzle.In order to promote upper
extremity strengthening and participation, a puzzle was given to the patient
along with placement of bilateral wrist weights.This particular patient enjoyed putting the
puzzle together so much that he finished it during his hospital stay and signed
it for the Rehab Team before he discharged home.He was very proud of his accomplishment and
so the Peoplefirst team told him it would be put in a conspicuous place for
everyone to see!
And so it began! Everyone that made a trip to the gym would see the puzzle, and of
course, they wanted in on the action too. Soon more patients were making more
puzzles.The permanent home of the
completed puzzles now resides on the wall outside the gym..
There are always 1-2 puzzles in various stages of completion
in the Rehab Gym.Patients work on them,
family members, visitors, etc. Those who
complete it or contributed to the completion must sign and date it.They are then coated with mod-podge, framed,
and hung in our “gallery”.
We now have other team members from Nursing, Case
Management, etc., donating puzzles for the patients to complete.Also, we are very happy that we have a LOT of wall space to hang completed artwork as our
gallery grows! We have even gotten offers from staff and visitors to purchase
of few of the pieces.
What started out as a simple project has grown into
something much larger that the entire team at Kindred Sahara is proud to be a
part of.