The health and comprehensive well-being of patients are fundamental priorities in any healthcare environment, with exposure to natural environments being an activity that has proven to be beneficial in physical, emotional and psychological recovery. “Path to well-being” is a therapeutic proposal from the Cuenca Alta ‘Néstor Kirchner’ Hospital that includes pets.
In the week in which Animal Day was celebrated, El Ciudadano chatted with Federico Puzzo, head of the Kinesiology and Rehabilitation service. “Therapeutic walks have as one of their premises increasing the well-being of patients in the institution and are aimed at adults admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and intermediate care unit (UTIM), those in general care (CG) and the pediatric patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU),” the doctor explained.
Among the objectives indicated in the HCANK initiative is to increase the collaboration and trust of patients and families. And the goals are also mentioned to accelerate recovery and prevent acquired weakness syndrome associated with health care, which includes the family in the care processes and humanization of therapeutic services.
“No one on the team imagined the joy, peace and emotion that a pet could generate in a patient, a situation that fills us with pride and forces us to continue working on this path of therapeutic walks,” Puzzo stressed when learning about a patient’s encounter. named Francisco with his cat.
The young man from Cañuelas, who is 22 years old, was admitted to Intensive Care after suffering a serious motorcycle accident.
“He required mechanical ventilation and after several days we were able to take him off respiratory assistance, remaining in the ICU for a short time longer, and then entering the intermediate intensive care unit,” Puzzo said.
Francisco was struck by a kitten tattooed on the arm of one of the kinesiologists who assisted him, and he immediately commented that he missed his pet very much, and that he would like to be with her.
“Truly, his comment mobilized several of us and prompted us to plan, together with the HCANK Humanized Care team, a meeting with his beloved company in the internal courtyard or gardens of the institution,” explained the head of Kinesiology.
This is a modality adopted and that became common in the hospital’s Humanized Care team, “who agree on therapeutic walks in each individual case, progressively, analyzing their evolution and respecting their emotional state of mind.”
This progressive sequence tries to make them sit on the bed, stand up, walk around the room or the hallway, and then try, to the extent of their motor capabilities, to bring them closer to a window, go out to the internal patio or accompany them on a tour of the hospital patio.
