Civic nurse seeking radios for patients
Ainsley Kinch has put out a clarion call to local residents, asking them to search their basements, attics and wherever else they store historical electronic detritus, and retrieve their old portable radios, CD players and clock radios to donate.
The 25-year-old registered nurse, who works in the general internal medicine and acute monitoring departments at The Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus, is collecting them to distribute to patients whose visits by family members have been sharply curtailed by COVID-19 and who would welcome the company of broadcasted voices and music.
“When COVID started, we were getting a lot of patients from longterm care facilities and homes where they were not allowed to go back, due to outbreaks or other reasons,” Kinch said. “And I saw how the loneliness and isolation was taking a toll on their overall health, their mental and physical health, especially in patients' rooms where they're isolated by themselves and have nothing better to do than stare at a wall for 24 hours a day, and how daunting and terrifying that must be when they're taken away from their familiar environment and everything that's normal to them.”
Additionally, she added, it can be difficult for many patients to find connection and reassurance with hospital staff who often must wear full protective equipment from head to toe and can't easily be recognized, while visits from family members are restricted to one person, for one hour each day.
“I've found that just providing something that causes a bit of joy, something that kind of takes away the sound of silence, something that makes them a bit happier, has benefitted their overall behaviours and health, and given them more motivation to take part in their care.
“Just putting a smile on someone's face is really important to me.”
Her philanthropy, she said, is a legacy from her mother, Cathy Kinch, a former schoolteacher in the Smiths Falls/Perth area who regularly, and anonymously, provided Christmas presents for less privileged students, or paid for their swimming or other lessons.
“She was constantly doing small acts of kindness for her community and her students, and she really instilled that in us. Trying to emulate her after she passed has been really important to me.”
Kinch has in the past provided patients with the odd radio she's found in the hospital, or accessed an online radio station when making rounds with her wheeled workstation.
But recognizing the potential benefits from having more radios and such, Kinch on Tuesday posted a request on the Facebook page of Ottawa Free Stuff, a closed group with more than 7,500 members.
Within a day, she said, she was inundated with messages from more than 100 members and their friends or contacts. She has offered to pick up people's castoff radios — she's not, she stressed, looking for large radios, such as boom boxes — and added that if she receives more than her unit can accommodate, she'll see that they go to other hospital units.
Those interested in donating can email Kinch at radiosottawa@gmail.com.