With patient visitation policies limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System created a program that displays cards of support on patient televisions and on public digital displays throughout its hospitals.
The health system partnered with patient engagement and audiovisual tech company TeleHealth Services to launch the program. Yale New Haven Health implemented the Cards from the Community program in the spring when no patient visitors were allowed at the six-hospital health system and deliveries to patients, including cards and flowers, were banned for safety purposes.
Community members and local school students participate in the program by making cards, which are then photographed, collected and digitally displayed on a rotating basis on patients' TVs.
"We know this is a time of loneliness and isolation for many patients and family members," said Brittany Branson, Yale New Haven Health patient experience medical director, according to a Sept. 22 news release. "The Cards from the Community program, first implemented this past spring, continues to share cards from local school children and community organizations expressing hope, appreciation and well wishes for patients and staff."
TeleHealth Services is also working to launch the Cards from the Community program in additional hospitals.