11th November 2024
In October 2024, the Musgrave Park Hospital Physio team hosted the Meadowlands Marathon Relay to mark ‘Older People’s Month’. The event provided patients a unique opportunity to connect with others and take part in physical activity to improve their well-being.
Meadowlands specialises in the care of older people receiving rehabilitation to help recover from fractures or other ailments. Patients across 3 wards took part in the Relay event and worked towards collectively completing a marathon distance of 26.2 miles which is 42,164 metres in total. Each patient’s daily efforts were measured in metres which was a meaningful measure particularly as some patients can only manage a walk of 10 metres at a time.
Speaking on the event Conor McComish, Physio team lead at Meadowlands, Musgrave Park Hospital, said:
“It was amazing to see the commitment from the patients involved in our Meadowlands Marathon. They really got motivated and even competitive with their efforts counting their daily metres walked.”
Motivated to achieve as many metres walking as they could over the month of October, the Meadowlands Marathon team easily smashed their original target bagging a fantastic 45.6 miles or 73,412 metres in total. This is an incredible achievement for everyone involved and demonstrates their commitment towards their rehabilitation.
Conor continued, adding:
“Unfortunately, it is not unusual for inpatients in hospital settings to become de-motivated with their rehabilitation. The Meadowlands Marathon showed us that a little extra effort and thinking outside the box can deliver positive results and help patients achieve their goals in an enjoyable way.
“Seeing the positive impact this has had on their emotional wellbeing has inspired us as a team to think of other ways we can help motivate our patients to make their time with us as positive as possible. I can’t thank my staff enough, for without their dedication and professionalism we couldn’t have delivered this event.”
Meadowlands specialises in the care of older people who have suffered fractures or need support following an acute admission to hospital. It also has an outpatients department. Its staff includes doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, Healthcare Assistants, social workers and various support staff. The unit has 71 in-patients all of whom have varying walking abilities.
For more information on the Meadowlands services, please visit Hospital Services | Belfast Health & Social Care Trust website.