Auxiliary brings luxury to the hospital

"We had a man spend the night visiting and he said that it was quite comfortable, and he was over six feet tall," said Willapa Harbor Hospital Chief Nursing Officer Bobbi Hallberg. "It would be great to have a couple more but they are expensive."

The chair, the latest in technology in hospital accessories, is a Hill-Rom model P375 Sleeper Chair that reclines into a bed as well as serves as a visiting chair. The chair is wide enough and long enough to be able to give a nice nights rest for a family member who wishes to stay overnight with their loved one in the hospital. As the chair is reclined, the back support flips to a nice pillow base and the footrest extends to add additional length for the visitor.

"Right now we only have one to share between the eight patient rooms," notes Hallberg.

The Volunteer Auxiliary has been looking for a way to assist the hospital and after a couple of years the group was asked by Willapa Harbor Hospital Department Heads to see if they could secure an item such as the Sleeping Chair.

"The hospital serves many employees of Weyerhaeuser and we discovered that they also have some grants available," said Auxiliary President Cherry Barnum.

And what is not used for the purchase of the chair we will use to help re-decorate the "Quite Room."

"The hospital does have some roll-out beds that we can use, and an older version of the chair that only reclines, but one of the nice things about this new chair is that it is easy to clean and maintain," stated Hallberg.

The Auxiliary also has plans to help re-decorate the Quiet Room that serves as a room where a patient can sit by themselves in solitude or have a personal visit with clergy.

"The room just needs some updating," said Barnum.

Both the chair and the room will get plenty of use and the Auxiliary can now focus on their next project in assisting the community hospital.