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BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3 tio Stripping and Refinishing Furniture Not as Arduous as You Might Think lMith Great Rewards in Satisfaction Teamwork Is Key to In Hospital's Emergency Eff iciency Dept. Registered Nurse Christine Adams shows some of the equipment in the Crisis Room of the Emergency Mrs. Doris Akey has worked in the Admitting Department. The portable unit at left is used for patients suffering from cardiac arrest. It includes a Department for 19 years. She enjoys both the suction unit, an oxygen mask and a cardiogram monitor. A team of four nurses respond to the cardiac statistical work required in her job and the arrest code and the unit is wheeled by a member of the medical team to the patient on the ward. opportunity her position gives her to meet the aqtients and nuiblic John Braybrook recently talked about bis hobby as a furniture refinisher. The re- cliner he is proudly sitting in was one piece that needed no work when he acquired it 14 These two photos show a 'before and after' look at a small rocking chair that John recently refinished. In the picture at left the chair has een stripped and the cracks -caulked with wood filler. At right stain has been applied years ago. Originally it belonged to J.W. Alexander (owner of the Dominion Organ and Piano Co.) and it was later in the lobby of the original Bowmanville Hos- and three coats of Varathane brushed on to give it a lustfous finish. After the refinishing process is complete, John recommends using lemon oil rather than wax in order to preserve the wood. pital for many years. In addition to his interest in furniture refinishing, John also has a collection of old and rare bottles if anyone is interested in a trade. by Liz Armstrong Some things are a little easier to do than you'd think. For a beginner, learning to drive a standard shift on a car, making a light, flaky pastry for a pie, and developing a photograph from a negative all sound a little more difficult than they really are. - People. sonmetimies hesjtfatie to try their hand at soiethig new because a so-called expert has made the skill sound very complicated. Others are put off because the process can't be easily visual- ized. With the high premium that has been placed on antique collecting recently, furniture refinishing is a hobby that many people have become more interested in these days. Many avoid it because they think it's too time consuming. John Braybrook, of Liberty Street South, took some time out a few weeks ago to prove that restoring and refinishing furniture is not really so difficult and time-consuming after all. He has beeù intrigued with old and interesting pieces of furniture for a long time, though he only began refhnise- ing antiques as a hobby four years ago. John learned what he knows about the process by trial and error and he gladly passed on a few tips about his hobby that might be of benefit to a begnner. The first and most impor- tant prerequisite is patience, because according to John, that virtue is 90 per cent of the battle. John most often refinishes items that other people bring him, and with that in mid, he added "A lot of'pieces have ,sentimental value so it's important to either do the job well -- or not at all. Every piece is a challenge." Even with all the patience required, the step by step process is less arduous and fatigui g than most people would tbink, depending on the piece of furniture inquestion. Tbougb there cao be many variations in the process, especially at the finisbîng stages, the first step is fairly standard. Usually old pieces of furni- ture picked up at an auction or found in an attic are covered with several layers of paint. Removing old paint is a process known as 'stripping' and with a choice of many products readily available at any hardware store, it can be done with ease. In tbe old days, stripping involved many days of hand scraping of the use of caustic chemicals that could be dan- gerous. Witg improved products, the task of paînt-removing is now a safe and easy one, thoughb John still recommends that paint remover not be used when there are young kids around the bouse. After applying the paint remover with an old brush and waiting about 15-20 minutes for it to do its work, the old paint becomes soft and can be scraped off witb a putt yknife or steel wool. A stiff brush will take care of excess paint located in hard to reach areas. John suggests using a tooth- brush; wire brushes will scratch the wood surface. The happy patient is Jack Terpstra; he is being attended to by Nurse Barb Carman and Registered Nursing Assistant Anita Jessup. There are four patient examining stretchers in the treatment room that adjoins the reception area and the waiting room. by Liz Armstrong Some smells are unforget- table even if they're only sniffed once in a while. Several come to mind ... a freshly tarred street, the caustic smell of a pulp and paper mill, ink on newsprint. How about the lingerng scent of a high school gym, or the smell of pumpkin when the candle burns out? Another is the scrubbed, antiseptic smell of a hospital ward. Unmistakale. It sug- gests cleanliness and bustling efficiency; flot at ahl friendly like the warm scent of your grandmother's kitchen or a crackling fire in a wood stove. People react differently to certain smells. Personally, the hospital smell does not rank in the top ten of my all-time favorites. I'd have to classify it alongside laundro- The chair shown in the photo took four hours to strip -- and a single afternoon isn't bad when you consider that the paint may have been there for several decades. John noted that the number of layers of paint has no effect; he has stripped some items with as many as seven coats of paint on them. As the process can be a messing one, John suggests that the job be done either in the basement or outside. Standing and Staining After all the paint traces bave been removed, the next step is to smoothe the finish by using progressively finer grades of sand paper. John often uses fine steely woo as a substitute -- the effect is comparable. After the surface has been cleaned tboroughly, John applies a coat of stain to the wood, its tone depending on the effect he wants to achieve. The staîn is left to dry for 24 hours and then the piece of furniture is rubbed down with fine steel wool. If a deeper or more even shade is wanted a second coat may be required. Finaiiy, John brushes on tbree coats of Varathane, a clear finish whic aprotects the wood and gives it a glossy lustre. He recommends that the finishes be applied in a dry place, otherwise the drying time can take almost forever. John used to buy most of his furniture from auction sales but now restricts his work to refinishing pieces brought to him by friends. Some items John has worked with have been damaged and require more work in additon to the basic refinishing techniques ex- plained here. John does his own repairs when necessary, and thougb this complicates mats, sour milk and musty basements right near the bottom of my list. For whatever (irrational) reason, the sterile-Mr. Clean smell of a hospital simply turns me off. Besides, except for the staff and expectant mothers on the maternity ward, hospitals are generally not places people are all that keen to get into. Strike two. Add a few miserable exper- iences duriig outpatient visits in two large Metro Toronto hospitals, and I'd just as soon write then off altogether. First-Hand Experience Whatever my prejudices against the big city medical centres, I was prepared to clean the slate whienI arrang- ed to write an article about the Admitting and Emergency Department at Memorial Hospital, and I thought that a the procedure, the improved resuit is well worth the extra effort. In the past four years John bas refimshed about 100 items of furniture, both large and small. And though he main- tains that his hobby is not as time consuming as most people believe it to be, his wife was consulted on the matter -- "He practically lives in the cellar when he's working on a piece," she noted. I guess the time flies when you're happy in your work. Graduate Mrs. Bonnie Alldred (nee Geach) 192 Liberty St. N. Bowmanville successfully passed her Reg. N. exams. She is a graduate of Durham College and has accepted employment with Bowman- ville Hospital. little first-hand èxperience as an outpatient would give a more realistic slant to the story. So, during the course of an annual medical check-up re- cently, I asked to have the routine blood and urine tests, and a chest X-ray, done at the Outpatient Clinic at Memorial Hospital. Except for 'Bill Innes, the Director of Special Services at the hospital (who suggested the idea in the first place) no one would know that I intended to record this fascin- ating experience in the States- man. Fiasco in Toronto My last outpatient visit to a hospital in Toronto had been something of a fiasco -- altogether 8½/ hours of leafing through tattered 11-month- old copies of Time magazines while waiting for a chest X-ray and diagnosis of a bronchial problem. Prepared for the worst, I allowed an hour and a hlf to accomplish my simpler mis- sion in Bowmanville. The following is a minute by minute account of the exper- ience at Memorial. 10:45 a.m. Arrived hospital and proceeded to Outpatient Department. The lady at the desk smiled -- Surprise No. 1. She took my requisitions and filled out the necessary in- formation for the hospital records. These preliminaries were done with blinding speed, comparatively speak- ing. A nurse on duty asked if I had brought a urine specimen with me. I hadn't. Surprise No. 2 - the nurse didn't grimace. She handed me one of tbose funny littie bottles and I promptly fulfilled my end of the bargain. As Outpatient blood samples are taken right in the labora- tory at Memorial. I was given directions on how to find it and off I went, bottle in hand, to Biochemistry and Haematol- ogy. 10:55 After losing direction twice, arrived in Haematoi- ogy. The technician smiled, applied the tourniquet and hi the vein accurateiy the first time. Then she relieved me of the little bottle and showed me how to get to X-ray. En route, even I started to smile.."this is not so bad" and then a cynical afterthought -- 'the staff must have been warned I was coming'. 11: 05 Arrived X-ray. Secte- tary smiied, asked for my requisition. I explained that I ha d given it to the lady in Outpatients. She went to get it, came back empty-handed and said she thought it was given back to me. I checked my purse .. and handed it over. No withering looks here ei ther. Then I am asked to take a seat. (After my experiences in the other departments, I now fully expect the technician to whisk out of the X-ray room to photograph my ribs, et al, immediately) 11:15 Finish reading article about Team Canada '74 in last year's September issue of Maclean's. 11:25 Finish overhearing conversation about "What I would do with a million dollars" between two patients also waiting for X-rays. 11:50 Finish spending my own million (includes a few new subscriptions for hospital waiting rooms) 12:05 Approached desk to say that I have to be at a meet- ing at 12:15. Secretary gone to lunch. Asked waiting patient to pass message along. As if on cue, The Knight in White Lab Coat appeared, grinned and said, "Sorry to have kept you waiting.....we had to take a series of complicated spinal X-rays. Right this way please." 12:10 Exit hospital. Arrived meeting 12:15. Return Visit Later that week when I returned to gather a few facts about the Outpatient, Emer- gency and Admitting Depart- ments of the hospital, I learned that none of-the staff had been tipped off about my visit, and that there is no Interdepartmental Smiling Contest under way. And I don't think that I just happened to encounter ail those people on a good day. Though I cannonly speak for myself, the impression I got was that most visitors to those departments receive the same friendly treatment. Mrs. Ann Colwell, the recep- tionist in the Emergency- Outpatient Department, explained part of the reason for the friendliness. "Patients are usually scared when they come in. We don't like to make them any more uptight than they already are." (Note to myself: Amend Rule 1, Patients Guide to Hospitals. Rule No. 1 formerly stated: All reception person- nel and nurses shallilook cranky and overworked at all times, and shall never speak in a helpfuli manner, except to supervisors). "We try to instill confidence in patients," Mrs. Colwell continued, "and let them know that they're getting the best treatment we can give them. If there's somethng we can't do, we'll send the patient to Oshawa or some other larger centre." Perhaps some of those other larger centres' could learn a lesson from a smaller community hospital like Mem- orial. So often the big hospitals treat the broken arm, the eye injury or the stomach pains without remembering that beyond the physical complaint is a person that is frightened and just likely in need of a little sympathy., Emergencies First In the first eight months of 1975, over 13,000 patients visited the Emergency- Outpatient Department at Memorial, 549 of these as a result of motor vehicle acci- dents. In 1974, 18,510 patients were treated in the depart- ment; some admitted, most looked after in the treatment room adjoining the reception area and sent home. Life in Emergency can get pretty hectic at times. With an average of 45 patients a day, the waiting room is of ten quite full. Serious emergencies come first, and other patients are treated as soon as time will allow. People who come in for routine lab tests (like me) can be lucky and have the required work done quickly... or they may háve to wait. Mrs. Colwell explained that many who come in during the mornmng may find themselves sitting in the waiting room for two or three hours while their Photos by Liz Armstrong Head-Nurse Marion Burgess trained at the Oshawa General Hospital before joining the staff at Memorial. She has been in charge of the Emergency Department for the last four years. Because of the unpredictable nature of the work in the department, the staff has to be able to cope with hectic, unforeseeable crises as a matter of course. cloctor completes surgery. All the same, she added that while they're waiting, they're not forgotten. Specialists Too There are 17 doctors at Memorial Hospital, and they all take their turn in the Emergency - Outpatient Department. Two are on call for twenty-four hour periods during a weekly rotation., Under the direction of Head Nurse Mrs. Marion Burgess, there are five nurses on duty during the day shift as well as at least one Registered Nurs- ing Assistant. Two R.N.s look after the 3-11 shift, and with the help of the ambulance atteidants, one nurse holds the fort during the night. In order to make it easier for local patients to consult specialists, 3 doctors from Oshawa (including an ortho- pedic surgeon, a gynecologist and a general surgeon) spend one day a week in consulting rooms at Memorial. Three internists are also available if their advice is requested. Admitting If a patient needs more extensive treatment than the Emergency Department can offer, then he or she is admitted to the hospital. Mrs. Doris Akey (another lady with a smile),handles the regular and emergency admissions in an office down the hall from the Emergency Department. Last year 3,980 patients were admitted to the hospital. Mrs. Akey has worked at the hospital for 19 years and obviously enjoys her job. It is at Admitting that the plastic wrist bracelets are issued and she's also responsible for filling out the insurance forms and admission reports. The admission procedure for surgery is a little more complicated. She noted that patients often don't under- stand why they have to be in the hospital ward by 2 pm. the day before their operation. The reason is simply that the hospital laboratory is not open 24 hours a day. Certain tests have to be completed before surgery is possible and la order to get the Operating Room functioning on schedule at 8 a.m. the tests have to be completed the afternoon before. Mrs. Akey makes up the surgery timetable, informs the patients of the time of their operations and sees that the legal consent forms are signed. She's also in charge of such statistical reports as the Daily Census Summary for the Hospital Commission, the Daily Record of Operations and the Patient Income Regis- ter (which she works at tilI it is balanced exactly--it wouldn't do to lose one here and there.) Patients are officially dis- charged through her office although she has nothing to do with the hospital billing--the Accounts Department takes care of that. And no matter what the rest of us think about OHIP, Mrs. Akey is all for it. She says it's more efficient and simple to work with--better than having a whole series of private insurance schemes to deal with. Teamwork Pays Off Perhaps the whole secret of success in the Emergency- Outpatient and Admitting can be summed up in one word-- teamwork. Any medical practitioner, from the most exclusive specialist on down, would agree that close co-operation between all the staff in a hospital works to the benefit of the patient--and this, after all, is the reason hospitals exist il the first place. Though that seems to be self-evident, it's often the obvious that's the easiest thing to overlook. I wonder if the staff at Memorial receive never- ending memos from the administration reminding them that the patient comes first. Or could it be, as Mrs. Colwell pointed out, that pride plays a big part in providing the best patient care they can give. That would be a pleasant switch these days. (There is a small post script to this story. As a result of my relatively brief and painless outpatient visit, even the old familiar hospital smell has jumped a few notches in the ratings.)