{"id":76471,"date":"2023-04-24T16:32:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T20:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=76471"},"modified":"2023-05-08T11:57:07","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T15:57:07","slug":"after-a-tragic-accident-these-volunteers-show-that-friendship-and-community-can-be-powerful-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/after-a-tragic-accident-these-volunteers-show-that-friendship-and-community-can-be-powerful-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"After a life-altering bike crash, this group of volunteers proves that friendship and community are powerful medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Sergio woke up in The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s intensive care unit in September 2021, there were no friends or family at his bedside. A visiting professor at the University of Ottawa from Mexico, his support system was thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While out exploring his new home city on a bike ride, Sergio had an accident which left him in a coma for several weeks. It also, tragically, paralyzed him from the neck down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ask him about it today, Sergio will tell you that he didn\u2019t think he would survive the first few weeks after the accident. They were grueling and would have been a challenge to do alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visitors\u2019 chairs next to Sergio\u2019s bed weren\u2019t empty for long. Shortly after he arrived at The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, a community blossomed around him, thanks in large part to a deeply caring group of people working in Volunteer Resources who made it their mission to ensure Sergio wouldn\u2019t ever be alone again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the beginning, there was one volunteer named Eric<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Eric McCrossin first met Sergio as he was coming out of his coma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt that point, they hadn\u2019t reintroduced food or anything to him, so our first conversation was about Jell-O,\u201d says Eric. \u201cI had my jaw wired shut before, so I could empathize with what he was going through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric decided to take up volunteering at The Ottawa Hospital in his retirement. When Volunteer Resources Advisor Stephanie Bertrand reached out to Eric about a role on the Friendly Visits team, he was quick to jump onboard. Little did he know that he would soon be instrumental in helping to change the life of one of our patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sergio
Sergio with Eric McCrossin and his aunt Carmella at The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Civic Campus in late fall, 2022. Sergio would like to thank all of the staff and volunteers at the Civic Campus, with a special thanks to the team in the ICU.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following the accident, it some took time for Sergio\u2019s heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature to regulate. As a result, he couldn\u2019t have a full conversation without fainting. As the months passed, he worked with respiratory therapists to learn how to breathe with assistance from a ventilator. As his breathing grew stronger, he could speak more easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this new gift of conversation, he and Eric got to know each other and together laughed about his fainting. Sergio shared that he was in Ottawa as a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa. His area of expertise is artificial intelligence (AI), and his research explores how AI mimics human behaviour. He is an accomplished software developer, a swimmer, a gym-goer and a lover of \u201cthe beautiful game.\u201d And before the accident, much of his time in Ottawa was spent sharing his expertise with students in the uOttawa Health Sciences program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In return, Eric shared stories about his travels, as well as home-baked meals. From there, a friendship just naturally blossomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is very positive and loves to laugh,\u201d says Eric. \u201cHe is an amazing person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once it was known that Sergio\u2019s stay at the Civic Campus ICU would be long term, a team of volunteers got to work\u2014ensuring that Sergio\u2019s circle of friends grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward a month, and one friend became many<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe developed a schedule to make sure someone is here with him every day,\u201d says Eric. \u201cWe also have a schedule of back-up people if someone is away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janet McGee visits Sergio every Monday, Eric on Tuesdays, Trisha Paul-Carson on Wednesdays, Jane Lamb on Thursdays, Pascal Fallavo on Fridays, Richard Raymond on Saturdays, and Guillaume Bissonnette on Sundays. Sergio\u2019s Aunt Carmella from Mexico would also start visiting Canada for six months at a time, spending six days a week at his bedside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their time with Sergio over the past 20 months has been punctuated with many memorable moments. Like the time that Trish made pineapple pie for Sergio, or when Eric helped to find a refrigerator for his room. Once, Richard brough Sergio a Wendy\u2019s hamburger for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"poster
The volunteers made Sergio\u2019s birthday extra special this year by creating a poster with photographs of their unmasked faces\u2014one of many special and thoughtful gestures from his friends.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They have also developed some important routines together. Guillaume watches YouTube videos with Sergio during his visits, Jane reads the newspaper, Pascal discusses AI progress, and Janet updates Sergio on the news. To make sure nobody misses a thing, regular emails are circulated among the group to keep everyone updated on Sergio\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergio\u2019s friends also include members from the Volunteer Resources team, who are always there to assist and who drop in to say hello whenever they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very special birthday surrounded by friends<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In November 2022, on Sergio\u2019s birthday (his second in the Civic ICU), it became apparent just how many new friends he had made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was cake after cake, and so many treats. Every department in the hospital that had a touchpoint with him showed up to wish him happy birthday,\u201d Eric describes with wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom housekeeping to kitchen staff to the people that deliver medication. They all dropped in to say hello. It was just mind boggling to see all the departments come by.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a reason Sergio has made so many friends at The Ottawa Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you meet him, he has the type of personality that you just fall into,\u201d says Eric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since Sergio regained consciousness in September 2021, he has tried to remember the names of all the physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists who have cared for him. That\u2019s more than 200 names he has stored in his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody knows me, and I know everybody,\u201d Sergio says with his trademark contagious grin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology makes the world a little bigger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To help Sergio keep in touch with his friends and family back home, the volunteers tracked down an iPad equipped with voice activation software. Sergio can now write emails and browse the Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergio also has access to a laptop set up for him by Pascal, the University of Ottawa professor who visits every Friday. Using a special device, Sergio can operate it using puffs of air from his mouth. This computer and his friendship with Pascal are a gateway back into his passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Friday afternoon, we talk about research and perspectives because I want to keep him involved in our projects here at the university,\u201d says Pascal, an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Sergio came to Canada to share his AI expertise with Pascal\u2019s lab. \u201cI really value his opinions on the mentorship of students and research directions. It\u2019s important to me that he continues to stay involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis began as a professional relationship because we did not know each other, but that professional relationship grew through COVID and then up until the accident. And I\u2019ve been with him ever since.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing,\u201d says Sergio. \u201cOur talks keeps me sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He demonstrates how he accesses YouTube using voice command\u2014in Spanish, because the English voices in the ICU were interfering too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore, I used to do more activities and then suddenly, life changes from one day to the other.\u201d  He takes a breath and smiles. \u201cIt seems to me that a human being can adjust to anything.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In September 2021, a visiting professor woke up in our ICU completely alone. He admits that he wouldn’t have made it through the first few months without support. But he didn\u2019t have to, thanks in large part to a group of caring volunteers who came to his side during this difficult time\u2014and have been there ever since. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":76476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[381,184],"class_list":["post-76471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-patient-experience","tag-volunteers"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}