Bringing the spa experience to patients and families on Bridgepoint’s Palliative Care Unit

It’s a Thursday afternoon and the bright and airy activity room on Bridgepoint’s Palliative Care unit is buzzing with activity, music and laughter. The distinctive smell of nail polish wafts in the air. The space has been transformed into a makeshift spa for patients and their families.

It’s become a quarterly ritual on the unit, with staff organizing décor, snacks, music and a little bit of pampering. The guests immerse their hands in warm lavender-scented water, enjoy hand massages and manicures, complete with nail polish.

“It’s so lovely staff are doing this because we couldn’t get out to a regular spa,” says Agnes, 97, one of the patients visiting the spa. Agnes opts for subtle clear nail polish.

Agnes and her daughter Brenda chat with other patients, family members and staff. In this relaxing atmosphere, there’s time for getting to know each other and talking about life.  Agnes reminisces about her time as a nurse here in Toronto during the Second World War.

Across the room an occupational therapist chats with another patient and his wife and asks how they met and fell in love. Her nail polish application is interrupted by laughter as they tell the story.

A volunteer applies a coat of pink polish for a family caregiver whose mother wasn’t able to leave her room today. “When I heard this was happening, I thought, I’ll just get a moment for myself. I don’t get many of those. Your priorities shift,” she says. “This is wonderful, I think things like this are needed more places, not just here.”

As the festivities wind down, the staff members prepare to go mobile and bring the pampering to the bedside for patients who weren’t able visit the activity room this afternoon.

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