Olympic pride shines in inter-ward competition

Forget the showdown in the Olympic arena this week – medical ward 2 and surgical ward 2 have gone head-to-head in an inter-ward competition that saw physical, mental and creative activities abound among patients and staff.

Eat, Walk, Engage facilitator Lauren Matheson said the inaugural Olympics event aimed to promote the pillars of the Eat, Walk, Engage (EWE) program.

“The program’s three pillars focus on supporting optimal nutrition and hydration, early, regular and progressive mobility and meaningful cognitive and social engagement,” Lauren said.

“Evidence shows that a strong focus on these areas helps to promote patient recovery and reduce complications like delirium and functional decline.

“We were absolutely stoked with the response shown by our EWE wards.

“We had a number of events across the day including a trivia tournament, ring-toss and promotion of sitting out of bed for lunch.

We also had a ward decoration competition, which was hotly contested”

“Medical ward 2 won the trophy with 179 points and the runner-up was surgical ward 2 with 125 points.”

Fellow EWE facilitator Katherine Fullard said it was great to see the wards show such strong interaction during the event.

“This event promoted some really nice engagement between patients, family members and staff,” Katherine said.

“Not just the nursing staff; we had doctors, allied health and operational service staff coming together to be involved as well.

“You could really see this in the ring-toss event, where everyone cheered each other on, celebrated a win, had a good-natured chuckle at a loss, and just came together in a really collegiate way.

“In the trivia event, patients came together in their rooms to collectively discuss questions, which promoted a lot of engagement and friendly conversation.”

Katherine said she wanted to thank staff for coming together to collaborate.

“We want to thank everyone who embraced this event and made it such a big success, as well as executive members Judy Morton and Danielle Hornsby who helped us judge the best decorated ward.

“We can’t wait to see what the next Olympic event brings.”

Eat Walk Engage is a comprehensive multi-disciplinary program aimed at improving the outcomes and experience of care for older people within acute hospital wards. It is a state-wide program under the Frail Older Persons Collaborative and commenced in Townsville in late 2020.