New project at Colorado Springs hospital bringing joy to cancer patients one ‘cloud’ at a time!

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - In UCHealth Memorial Central's cancer wing, patients don't just come with a medical chart.

When a nurse walks into the room, they don't just know their patient's treatment plan. They know they enjoy salsa dancing, or saw the movie "Titanic" 12 times, or enjoy medieval history and are saving to visit Europe.

This is the word cloud project at Memorial's In-Patient Oncology Department, the brainchild of associate nurse manager Angie Benner, who herself says she was inspired by a hospice nurse in Denver.

"[In] early summer, we had a practitioner from the Denver region come down. She was doing a project making clouds for people at the end of life, hospice patients, and she would ask her families to tell her a little about them, so while we're there taking care of them and couldn't talk to them, we can talk about things that they liked and interests of theirs," Benner said.

Around the same time, Benner was taking part in a leadership program across UCHealth.

"The goal of it was to make a process improvement or employee satisfaction improvement process. So mine mainly focus[ed] on patient satisfaction improvement."

Put the two together ...

"I thought, 'Wow, everybody could benefit from a word cloud!'"

A hospital stay can be scary in the best of circumstances. For oncology patients, everything every day can start to become all about their cancer. The idea for Angie: make them feel like people, not patients, again.

"People like to tell about themselves, have a moment in the hospital talking about something other than why they're here."

And as anyone who has battled or watched a love one battle a serious injury or illness, the mental side of the fight - staying upbeat, holding onto happiness - can have an impact on the outcome.

So in July, shortly after talking with the hospice nurse, Benner began making word clouds for patients.

"It's kind of fun when I go into a patient's room and I'll say, 'Can I make you a word cloud?' And of course, an initial look of confusion is on their face! 'It's a way for us to get to know you outside you being here in the hospital.' And that makes them smile a little bit. "

She'll encourage the patients to put anything they want: their passions, fun facts about themselves, hidden talents, favorite foods, pets, hobbies ...

"It can really be anything they want it to be."

The word cloud then goes on the same board in the patient's room where all of the other medical information goes. The idea is that when a nurse, doctor, housekeeping walks in, they can start a conversation about all of the things that makes the patient happy. About who they are, not what their cancer is.

The results of such a simple project have been incredible so far!

"I've really seen a change in people's personalities and seeing that spark of what is their passion and what makes them happy outside the hospital. ... Just being able to escape from everybody coming into your room and talking about one thing. 'I'm more than this diagnosis. Let me tell you about it.' I think that is special to people."

It meant so much to one patient, he even asked for it when he moved units.

"A patient that we had on our unit had to move to another unit, and after he had moved there, we got a call from his nurse there saying, 'Can you send us his word cloud,' because it didn't get moved with him and it meant so much to him that he wanted it with him on his journey through his hospital stay."

Another patient was so excited when he saw his word cloud in the shape of one of his interests. Benner and the other nurses who help her with the clouds make each one individualized: the words are inside a graphic that means something to that person. Benner tells me she's managed to never repeat a graphic twice, so they're all truly unique!

"He was like, 'Oh my gosh, I didn't know it was going to be like this!' And it just brought a smile to his face."

It's also benefitted the caregivers in the hospital.

"We're going through our days being really busy and completing a lot of tasks," Benner told me. "I feel like this was born out of what makes me happiest as a nurse. I remember when we're really busy saying, 'If this is nursing, I don't want to do it. If all I'm doing is going into rooms and completing tasks, that's not for me.' I want to have time to sit in there and talk to people and get to know their story, and that's what makes me want to be a nurse. I like taking care of people, I like to get to know people, and I feel like this was born out of what makes me passionate about a nurse anyway.

"... I think that's what brings us happiness, is getting to know people and building connection and not just going through our day like robots completing tasks. It's that human connection that makes a difference."

Her coworkers have loved how the word clouds have enriched their relationships with the patients - so much so, the entire oncology team has made word clouds for themselves too!

"I have gotten feedback from all of our staff. They'll sit over here and look at each other's and have fun going and talking to each other about new things that they've learned."

One of Benner's favorite fun facts she's learned through the word clouds: learning one of her fellow nurses can ride a unicycle while juggling!

It may just be a piece of paper and a computer program, but when it comes to giving hope and strength during the cancer battle, it's as powerful as any medication.

"Reminds them what they're fighting for in this," Benner said.