Easy Street: a place to down one’s bur YOU ‘WILL have to forgive me this week a labored meta- phor, but it is Easter Sunday and my story is about Holy Family Hospital, an institution with roots planted firmly within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouvér. In many churches — both grand and humble — this weekend, and along Jerusalem's - Via Dolorosa, the faithful will ‘recreate the steps of Jesus Christ, labosing under the weight of the cross as he struggled toward Cal- vary. We have no intent to cast this column off on theological direc- tions, but there are many victims of accident, disease or simple old age who carry burdens every mo- ment of their lives. And this is the Easter story. Holy Family Hospital ‘deals with people for whom the weight of their own feet, lifting an arm, or gelling coins out of a purse, can be an impossible challenge. It is one of the province's four leading rehabilitation hospitals. ‘The internationally renowned G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre deals with assorted types of hand- icupped people, with an emphasis on those who are considered to have “productive life” left within them. ; Usually, this means people who might go back to the work force + after an amputation, a severed spinal chuid, a neurological . disc rder or @ sange of other aif. fie! Mies. -'The Workers’ Compensation Board of 8.C. Rehabilitation Centre in Richmond, deaiing with work-related injuries, is the envy of occupational therapists every- where. The Gorge Road Hospital in, Victoria and Holy Family Hospi- tal in Vancouver are the other two, OPEN LINES They deal with the more elderly patient, people recovering from devastating arthritic problems, stroke victims and similar unglamorous conditions. Holy Family Hospital, quietly nestled near Southeast Marine Drive and Argyle in Vancouver, _ has attracted very little publicity. ” tt has 150 extended-care beds, and a rehabilitation unit for 80 revidents. It also treats 15,000 day patients each year, C.F. Strong and the WCB are in the news all of the time. Their suciesses are legendary, Very soon, however, they will temporarily be surrendering the media stage to Holy Family. tn 50 cities now in North America, a new type of rehabilita- tion facility has captured the The designer: quality you've come to expect from JABOT Window Designs now has an added bonus, our lowest price guarantee. Shop March 29th to April 17th and your purchase will be protected. Should you find the same product advercised elsewhere for lessJABOTwill refund the difference. Blinds, draperies, upholstery treatments, anything you buy - from JABOT Window Designs is covered, even the Hunter Douglas window fashions we specialize in! 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There will be a garden and put- ting green; a bus (with a moving floor) and bus-stop; a gasoline pump and a properly outfitted restaurant booth. The development is a $600,000 campaign, in addition to the direct involvement of several sponsoring companies who will direct the in- stallation of their own business’ components. Ata Park Royal Hotel breakfast recently with businessman Kevin Conway and Dr. Larry Weller, a University of British Columbia chemistry pro- fessor, we became propressively excited by this venture. Weiler is the chairman of the Sunday, April 11, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 9 Holy Family Hospital Foundation. He and Conway are Easy Street directors. Both live on the North Shore. Leslie Bainbridge, a Canadian educated at the Royal Naval Col- icge of Physiotherapy near Ports- mouth, England, is the Director of Rehabilitation Services at Holy Family Hospital. She and an associate were first exposed to Easy Street at Hamilton, Ont. She toured another in Edmon- ton, They generated instant ex- citement and a determination to see one developed in Vancouver. She said that release from hos- pital can be a “terrifying jump’’ for a stroke victim. It is one thing te use various exercise items in a hospital, where you are surrounded by help, and quite another to go shopping, or to make soup at home, or any- thing else in ordinary life. Easy Street, a cheerful, color- ful, functioning atmosphere, will help the therapists condition their patients to what precisely they will confront in the community. Beth Gauthier, the director of development and public relations at Holy Family Hospital, is condi- tioning her colleagues to a rather unique move into the limelight. Holy Family, today, is a pluralistic medical facility similar in style to St. Paul's, Staff and Cn patients span ali religions. But it was founded at the re- quest of the Archbishop of Van- couver immediately following the Second World War. He asked the Sisters of Providence of Kingston, Ont. if they would consider open- ing a home for elderly indigents. The nuns bought an old house on Marine Drive and they began with 12 poor women as lodgers. But the Sisters and the home never did have much money and, despite steady growth as a hospi- tal, its residents always had to pitch in and help run the institu- tion. During the early 1970s. when it was formally defined as rehabilitation hospital by the pro- vincial government, it was an easy step into rehabilitation, The pa- tients were quite used to domestic work. Four elderly nuns remain among the 400 staff, aiink and a reminder of the hospital's proud history. “They have the longest tradi- tion in rehabilitation of any hos- pital in the province — a multi- | discipline approach,” Gauthier said, : : Asked about the substantial gap remaining in the fundraising and sponsorship requirements for Easy Street, Beth Gauthier. smiled and paused. “We will have it open this fall," she said.