Room with a View

[watervole]

Richard's current project has been going well. They had an equipment trial
today and everyone was very happy. It's a scheme at Dorchester hospital which
aims to transmit live footage from nature reserves into the intensive care
wards. There's research suggesting that cancer patients recover faster if they
have views of the natural world.

We originally heard about the project through the Dorset Wildlife Trust. It had
been abandoned as it had costed out way too expensive. Richard, being a
telecomms man, said 'that can be done for a fraction of the price if you do it
this way instead' and is now a happy bunny having proved his point.

The project is being sponsored by a cancer research charity and Richard will
also have an occasional job maintaining the equipment once the project is up and running.

Comments

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that's going well. I remember Richard ranting about it when he saw the original quote. :-)

The hospital where my mother was treated is a modern one, built in the last ten years. The architects were aware of the research demonstrating that people get better faster if they can see gardens etc, and designed around that - the oncology unit is a single story building around a garden courtyard, with every bed and treatment seat having a view of the garden. I know that it helped me, just sitting with my mother in the day care ward.

Stupid thing is that it's been known for a long time, as anecdotal evidence, that patients do better with gardens - that's why a lot of the old hospitals had gardens for patients to walk in or be pushed around in. But of course those gardens were a prime target to be sold off to developers. One motivation for care in the community was to be able to sell off the asylums and their enormous grounds. :-(

A project like this is a good way of bringing the benefits to hospitlas where it's not practical to retrofit a decent garden.

[scarlatti.livejournal.com]

What a neat project! Good to hear it's going so well. When I was in the hospital, there wasn't much of an outdoor view. No windows in the Intensive Care Unit, and while I *think* was a window in the standard room, I couldn't see out of it.

[kerravonsen]

What a cool project! Great that Richard could (a) get such a great project going and (b) get paid to do so.