Radio Heatherwood Backstage 2007
Whilst there was a very public side to the promotion of the radio service, behind the scenes a number of other events and changes were taking place to the working practices of the radio station.
Whilst there was a very public side to the promotion of the radio service, behind the scenes a number of other events and changes were taking place to the working practices of the radio station.
The introduction of the on-line bulletin board for presenters pays dividends as presenters share their feedback from ward rounds in 2007.
Patient Feedback
Harold ward 16
Jan 7th, Whilst on ward rounds yesterday Harold on ward 16 overheard our conversation with the staff and said “oh is the hospital radio still going, i was here three years ago oh i would love to listen it's really good” Hang on a minute Harold we'll just try your terminal guess what happened next !
Apologies Harold we can't tune you in your terminal is broken.
Jean in Ward 10
Mar 16th,If you are taking requests from Ward 10 over the next week please can you try and look in on Jean on Ward 10 - she has a separate room.
I had the pleasure of speaking to her yesterday evening - she was feeling a bit depressed - but my comments on her very pretty dressing gown seemed to cheer her up a little! We also presented her with the mug at the end of the evening. She was so pleased she tried to give it to me as a gift to say thank you - bless...
In an effort to cheer her up I am sure she would like to make additional requests - she is a big James Bond fan and spent a while telling me how she had worked at Pinewood studios in the war.
Re: Jean in Ward 10
Mar 30th, I saw Jean/Gladys again last night. She was delightful as always and remembered Helen and said lovely things about our bride to be
Among other patients, I saw Mabel on 1G. She should be off home today but she won a mug. As I walked up she knew exactly why I was there, took the mug off me and said she would be giving it to her husband as a 57th wedding anniversary present She loved the picture of the little guy in plaster. The whole ward gave her a clap. She too was very complimentary of the service, especially the choice of music.
Mugs
May 17th, Good turnout tonight. Some sprightly pensioners out there plus a few young'uns as well. Gave out a mug or...5 (hey, we've not given out many recently). Thought you would like to know that Ted [ward 5, ex-Disney animator from the 40s] is going leave his untouched and treasure it always while Mabel [new arrival on ward 16] is going to put hers to the more practical use of storing her teeth. Mrs Kalia was also very appreciative of her request, as were Harold and Dorothy. A nice bunch.
Lynne Jones of Ward 5
Jun 1st, James and I visited ward 5 last night and in addition to the peace, love and happiness bestowed upon us by Obed, we met some lovely patients.Lynne Jones was one of them; a young lady with blonde hair and dark rimmed glasses, sat up in bed. She requested the Rolling Stones on Tuesday, had a chat with Roger and got 3 tracks played! She said that we all do a brilliant job and thanked us very much for the service.
She was happy for her name and comments to be published on the website. Last night she requested “Now you has jazz” by Bing and Louis, from High Society, which, after a false start, we played for her.Lovely lady.
Thursday
Jun 15th, Good night last night. Bit slow going on getting requests but still met some lovely people, namely Peggy on ward 16 who thanked us for the wonderful job we do and Jacqueline on ward 1G who had tuned in on Wednesday all by herself. She loved the country and western slot - said it relaxed her and helped her drift off to sleep.
Mr Turvey Says Thanks
Jun 23rd, Dear Sir I was admitted as an emergency via my GP on the 16th May and discharged on the 23rd May 2007 with SOB. 1 wish to thank all members of nursing and medical staff for their kind care and attention, in particular John, Jonathon, Obed and Gregory on Ward 5 amongst many others.
The ward was most comfortable but disappointed in two areas. Namely non delivery of newspapers and cold unappetising food even though there was a good choice. However I enjoyed listening to Radio Heatherwood and had some requests played.
Overall I was very impressed with the constant attention to detail with my treatment.
Yours sincerely Mr R J Turvey
The above copy of a letter sent to the chief exec
Greetings,
As Shep was playing out “Viva Espana” last night, we got a call at the studio from Ward 5, saying they were all singing along and it had really lifted their spirits!
Bless! Mary Says Thanks
Sep 16th, 2007, I am not normally a radio listener but during my stay in hospital i found your station Brilliant with such a good selection of music and comedy i found myself listening to it all day, i enjoyed tunes i hadn't heard in years, makes a change from only having POP music most enjoyable and relaxing. it made the time go better. who ever puts these programme together is really talented and knows what is good listening.
Thank you. Mary Chappell
Seven Daffodils
Sep 29th, A lady in 1G this morning asked for seven golden daffodils the song is seven daffodils in case she asks again. She was very complementary about our service and thanks all the presenters for the sterling work
Trains
Sep 29th, Derek on ward 4 this morning asked for Trains by Reginald Gardiner this is available on rhapsody. He was a bit gob smacked when i said yes we have it. “I'm mad about trains” he tells me Shame Nice lad though.
Lads On Ward 4
Sep 29th, We were bombed out with requests today with only wards 1g and 4 covered. The lads on wards 4 were very lively and we put out 5 headsets so that they could tune in. One lad said to me could you pass my paper to the lad opposite looking at the paper it was the sun. I said to him “ that won't do him any good ” voice pipes up “i only want it for the sport” my reply me too
Going round the wards and having a real laugh with the patients is what makes this so enjoyable
Patricia on ward 8
Dec 16th, I had a very nice chat with Patricia on ward 8 today. She has been in for a couple of weeks and enjoys listening to rhapsody and all the marvellous content that is available. She was most complementary about our service. She is in one of the six bed wards. She had Leona Lewis as a request.
She was the only one in the six bed ward who was actually compos mentis
Back to Top2007 was a very busy year for the station management and as the year unfolded there was much to do and organise
For further information about this year:- Follow the links
Some captured moments of our volunteers,during this year.
Extract of Xmas Message 2007:-
I thought I would take this opportunity to highlight some highs and lows of this year and reflect on our achievements. In addition what has 2008 in store for the radio service?
I’ll start with the positive news of the donation secured by butch which allowed us to change the screens in both studios’ to the flat screen type. This has made it much easier to operate the studio now and I’m sure you have all felt this has made life easier.
The staff recruitment still poses major problems for us as we are still unable to attract the right sort of applicant. We have attracted over 22 applicants this year but when we break down the reason why they weren’t suitable we find the same old failures.
This year saw the departure of Helen from Thursdays and this immediately had a knock on effect that we had to close the night because James promptly left shortly after Helen left.
It takes almost a year to get a presenter up to a reasonable speed so I was a bit gob smacked when we lost two in quick succession.
Sarah left in the early part of the year to have a baby but sadly to date has given no indication she wants to return.
In addition the station said goodbye to Lucy Walker and Marcela Wiggins. Marcela had been with us off and on for 15 months and after a number of starts stops and her family commitments we decided it wasn’t in our interest to continue her training. This incident has lead us to the note which is added to the welcome notes for new trainee’s that training isn’t actually open ended and we will call time on someone if we think they won’t make it.
We are always concerned that those coming into the station do not abuse the trust of those full time members who have to give up their time to train new staff. Radio Heatherwood is not here to further peoples careers at the detriment of it’s own genuine volunteers. At this point we should say that the service was devised with the express wish to provide entertainment and a friend at the bedside for patients. Any career opportunities for the staff, doesn’t enter into the equation as far as the league funding of the service goes.
The year saw a number of rather nasty individuals who sent derogatory replies in answer to our rejections of their applications.
On a positive side we have been added to the do it org web site as well a number of others which advertises we need volunteers.
It still remains a tough a task in encouraging the right sort of recruit to our teams.
In the back ground all the development work was completed for patient’s staff and their families to text the radio. Whilst this has been put on hold because of the low staff numbers I’m optimistic that in the near future we will be able to launch it and add some new interaction with our listeners.
The web sites for both the league and the radio have been changed slightly this year with the application form page now more comprehensive.
The rhapsody service gained some new voices this year with Shep Katie and Ian adding a small amount of trailers to the selection. I would hope that this coming year they can return to the training for this and increase their contribution so that we may remove old voices no longer with us. In addition I think we need to get Man with the Plan onto rhapsody as well, this coming year.
The bulletin board has really come into its own now and has proved that it’s a great way to brief out information as well as keep in contact with other members of staff. When we launched this service I held a poll to ask do you think it’s a good idea. Of the staff at the time three didn’t see the need to have it. Over the years at the station I have tried newsletters, posted newsletters, email newsletters but response you could count on one hand. Now everything is in one place so current news and old news can be looked at in your own time. The feedback that you get from the wards provides a great boost to us all, when we read your comments from the patients, keep it up.
A number of presenters this year gained long service certificates and they can be rightly proud of their achievements.
At the start of the year we tightened down on the opening and closing sequence for the station. We have made a major improvement in this area but we still suffer from bad opening and closing handovers on occasions and we need to be more careful and aware of the correct procedure which does give a clear indication to listeners of the live and not live program changes.
In 2008 we will be moving the webshop promotion up a gear and will add to rhapsody as well as notification to staff on the wards as well as patients. The web shop will over time I hope gain popularity, as the outcome for the radio will be additional monies which we can use to improve our service. The radio station relies on the running grant from the league and donations each year from our sponsors. It would be nice to think that perhaps the radio could gain a regular income from the web sites.
2008 see’s the 20th year Anniversary of the am service for us and it’s also the 50th year of the league. The am service will celebrate 20 years this coming April and the league this February. As part of the league 50 year celebrations we will be updating the league web site with new info etc and in addition all volunteers of the league will receive a special edition mug as a thank you.
Our radio service relies on all our staff pitching in and making a contribution. Radio Heatherwood is not one person it’s a team effort. And what a great team we have.
Well done everybody, Merry Christmas to you and all your families
Many thanks and see you all in 2008
P Davidson-Smith Secretary December 2007
Just some extra's we found:-
At the end of the year.
Investigations were taking place with regard to using recommendations from a web page which is a shop window to all the popular shops you might find on the high street.
A percentage of any sales made are then returned to the charity.
Our web shop was created at the end of this year but launched and promoted in 2008.
Original Version
Screenshot
New Version Launched
In March this year version four of the software Wavecart was installed in both studio's.
This user guide, was the forerunner for the Bronze/Silver training companion.
Wavecart Version 4 User Guide2007 That Was The Year That Was!
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