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By:  Teresinha Medeiros, Communications Coordinator at Windsor Regional Hospital

Windsor Regional Hospital is celebrating the success of a program aimed at getting a target group of at-risk patients, out of bed and walking on the road to recovery.   The hospital embarked on the virtual mobility tour across Canada in 2019 called the Movement Matters-One Step at a Time Program.   Patients are encouraged to get out of bed, take a walk, log their steps and see how far they can travel.  Those who need help getting up and moving, are identified when they are admitted into the hospital and work with their care teams to set appropriate mobility goals and then track and monitor how far they go. 

Every time participating patients walk to the washroom, down the hall, or around the unit floor, the distance covered is recorded in their charts. Each unit then tallies its results and maps the progress on a map to show patients their progress.   The program's goal is to get "at-risk" patients, including seniors who are most likely to stay in bed during their hospital stay, up and moving, to speed up their recoveries while preventing unnecessary complications that could lead to longer hospital stays. 

A study by the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario shows one-third of older patients who are hospitalized develop new disabilities that affect their daily living during their hospital stay. Half of those patients are unable to recover function.

"We don't want our patients who come to the hospital to get better, just to leave with new or worse conditions because they stayed in bed the whole time they were here," says Karen McCullough, Windsor Regional Hospital Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Executive. "So it is important we keep them moving."

Nurses, ambulation assistants, physiotherapists and physicians all helped create the program and help to deliver it by working with and encouraging patients.

"The program gives patients an opportunity to maintain and build strength and confidence," says Tara Corra-Pella, an Ambulation Assistant involved in the project. "Often patients need encouragement, especially when they are not feeling well and through this program, they see every step makes a difference and every day we encourage them to go a little further."

Martin Sobocan's family member was in the hospital and he says moving made all the difference.  

"The Movement Matters program had a significant impact on my loved one's journey and I am grateful for that," he says.  "It provided my family with a framework so that we could be involved in the recovery process."

In the past year, staff have had 3,064 ambulation referrals and have walked along side of more than 2,070 patients.   Patientsinvolved in the program have clocked a combined total of nearly 1,288km! As you can see in the map, this is the distance from Windsor, Ontario to the municipality of L'islet, Quebec, outside of Quebec City on the edge of the St. Lawrence River.

Moving means less pain in the joints, less muscle loss, resulting in less falls and less skin breakdown for patients in hospital. It also allows them to breathe better, think better and fight infections.