Engagement Tree displays definitions of compassion
AN ENGAGEMENT TREE exhibit will help provide better care in the community by asking what compassion means to islanders.
This week saw the launch of an initiative from Health and Social Care’s core values framework to understand what compassion means to different people using health and care services in the Bailiwick.
The interactive exhibit was created with the Guernsey Arts Commission and sponsored by cancer support charity MacMillan. Islanders will be able to write on leaves what compassion means to them and tie them to branches on the tree.
Core values framework lead Sharon Treacy said the tree was part of an aim to promote a culture of courage and compassion, one of the principles of their framework by getting input from users of the health and care services on-island.
‘The tree is a really good way of doing this, it’s not just filling out a form, it’s something to engage and relate to, which is nice,’ said Ms Treacy.
Guernsey chief nurse Juliet Beal said people will be able to read what compassion means to others, which might change or broaden their own ideas of the term.
Every quarter the leaves will be gathered and the team will look at what people’s perceptions of compassion are. There will also be a chance for islanders to write what they think are the barriers to compassion in care.
This will then help to provide better care and outcomes on-island.
Over the next year the tree will be moved to different locations in the Bailiwick. Martin Gavet, who worked on the framework, said they would love to get the tree to the Mignot Memorial Hospital in Alderney and are looking for sponsorship to fund its travel there.
HSC chief secretary Mark de Garis said, for him, part of the idea is treating a person as a person.
He hoped colleagues across the sector would respond to this.
‘Every day I come across people who work in health and care who are passionate about the care that is given. It’s not just about in the hospital, it’s the wider picture,’ he said.
The Engagement Tree will initially be placed in the Gloucester Room canteen at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital before moving on to a new site.
