Newton Dialysis Unit Aquarium

[myaquaria]

Hi Everbody,

Here are the pics of tank progress at the Newton Dialysis Unit (Dec 11, 2011) designed by Miyabi Aqua Design.

Thank you to everyone who donated! Donations of fish and plants are still welcomed on an ongoing basis. Please pm Joseph of Miyabi Aqua Design or myself, Myaquaria.

Thank you from patients at Newton Dialysis Unit.

Enjoy!


Start Date: Dec 11, 2011

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Fabulous so far. When its ready, I can donate some endlers/guppies to the cause.

Anthony

[effox]

Hey that looks really great, thanks to everyone who put effort into this.

Cheers,
Chris

[gklaw]

Thanks Glen. Quite sure the patients' relatives will enjoy that with their long wait in the lounge. Thanks for the investment and time with your busy schedule.

Thanks Joseph for you artistic talent, hope your labour of love will bring much appreciation to the ADA Nature Aquarium.

[vdub]

Hey,

I'm curious to know why you placed the tank in a waiting room? Is it for the patient's themselves or the waiting relatives?

[myaquaria]

Hi Vdub,

Thanks for your comment!

That's a great question! Actually, it was not my decision to place it there as it was the Head Nurse's decision. There is a debated concern that the water evaporation from the aquarium may harbour growth for atmospheric micro-bacteria since there is an increase amount of humidity levels. In compliance to FraserHealth's Infection Control regulations, we felt that this place was the best location to make everyone happy! =)

Please note that patients are the main people waiting in this area for majority of the day and evening from 5:30 am to 10:30 pm. Though Dialysis start times are at 8am, patients come early as 5:30 am due to Handy-Dart drop off times.

Unfortunately, Handy-Dart pick-ups times are not always on-time, often very late (due to forgotten pick-ups, traffic or other pick-ups for the general public elsewhere) or too early, that patients are not even ready to leave and so the Handy-Dart leaves them.

As a result, these patients have no choice but to wait for the next pick-up, which is often unknown, and they just have to sit and wait it out.

This cycle repeats again at 11 pm, 1 pm and 4 pm and 9 pm.

Also, between these times (what we call dialysis turn over or runs), there are patients that are called in to dialysis between runs, as well as emergency runs and special appointment runs.

As you can see, there is always somebody in the waiting room. Patients as well as patients' spouses and relatives are also present in the waiting area. Please don’t be mistaken with Gklaw's comment that patients’ relatives are the only ones looking at the tank. I realized I mis-worded my initial post and I apologize for the misunderstanding.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you!


PS. Also, as a bonus, as this unit is under high security, having the aquarium in this location allow BCA donators to visit and see aquarium (and witness how their contribution has helped the project over the years), while not needing to enter the dialysis room itself.

[gklaw]

Thanks Glen for your peaceful clarification. I guess we all over-reacted when I pointed out I felt misled in my PM to you and Joseph. Before my mother-in-law passed away this July, she had a kidney failure and we were told that she needed dialysis treatment 3 to 4 times a week, each treatment taking about 4-5 hours.

I read your post, quote:

"for the patients as they stay 4-5 hours staring at a fishless, poorly decorated tank"

See how easy it is for me to connect the two together. Excuse my ignorance, I thought they are sitting alert by a machine for the 4-5 hours treatment hence staring at something for 4-5 hours.

When I was at the clinic late Sunday night, out of curiosity I asked a few questions. Joseph and his wife explained to me that the patients will be sleeping at the back rooms while receiving treatment. Joseph further explained to me that he had to take his father for treatment for several years, it is the relatives who have to endure the painful wait while the patients are being treated at the back. Obviously he did not know what you know either.

I was told that the clinic runs from 6:00am to 10:00pm. Light period 6 to 6 or 8 to 8. Little do I know that the patients got dropped off as early as 5:30am (that sounds insane) and have to wait as long as 4-5 hours for transport and 4-5 hours for treatment.

Seems like a lot of resources wasted having the clinic open for two hours because of Translink Handy-Dart operation and adding to the pain of the patients - bad enough as is for someone having to take public transit for dialysis treatment. We definitely need to do some lobbying to Translink (portion of our property tax goes to the them) and our MLAs (may be Global TV) need to hear about this.

Really appreciate your clarification.

One of the first things you told me is that Joseph is contributing because he want to advertise does not help either. We even joked about where to put the business cards. (Joseph, I am sorry to say this in public but I have been more than frank with you in PM already.)

With good wills, clarity, transparency and accountability go a long way - I think it is an absolutely must. It "just may be" OK to reap some personal benefits from that. Stating that up front will save a lot of subsequent misunderstandings. It is hard to read the intent of people - there are just too many flaky characters out there ripping people off in the name of charities and religions.

You cannot assume I know, I cannot assume I know - a mistake we both committed. We all know what "AssUMe" spells.

All the best and keep us posted. Not every week !! I think once every one or two months is far more than plenty unless of course when you are running in to problem and need help.

I am also quite interested to know how fast the plants would grow with ADA and CO2. They seem to do fine, not growing fast, in my sand with no CO2 and just fish poops for fert

[gklaw]

Thought I would also share an experience:

About 20 years ago, I had a dearly loved and trusted young brother in our church. He would come to me for advice. Everything seemed well, very genuine and friendly person. I moved to Calgary for two years. When I came back, I was told that he got someone pregnant, went to another church, caused some more trouble, told to leave and threatened to burn down the church. BTW, he studied criminology at SFU and came from a decent family with a nice house near SFU. Should I not trust him ?

He came back to church a few years later. One of our elders took him for a walk and we never saw him again. To-date, I still feel somewhat responsible in nurturing this guy and resulting in at least two girls got hurt.

About 3-5 years ago, I saw a similar pattern developing with another young fella whom I also befriended. I was glad he left before too much happened - hope he did not show up somewhere else to cause troubles. I have been attending the same church for over 25 years, I watched lots of the young people grew up - including at least a couple members of this forum. Trust me, flaky characters (wolves in sheep skins) can bring out the fierce lion in me pretty quick.

BCA (incidentally BAC is the acronym for my church) has a lot of extremely generous (crazy Anthony for one ) and well intended people. As mentioned in some recent posts, it is a big family. Now you see ?

It is a fine balance between trust and caution. First impression plays a big part. As I mentioned earlier, the more labels people put on them as a reason to trust them, the more cautious I am. Trust can only be earned with time spent with a community, not demanded - the larger the project, the more so. Who is really concerned if someone just want a free 33g tank and a few plants and guppies?

[myaquaria]

Update #2
Week 2
Dec 20


Pics after water change.

Note the fast rooting.

Thanks to Chris for Floating plants

I had to add the scuba diver ornament to please some patients.

[gklaw]

Update #2
Note the fast rooting.

The plant in pic #2 with lots of new root will develop very strong root system. You likely will have to prune them back or it will fill a good chunk of the tank.

If you allow it to grow out of your tank at least the back half, it will grow above the light and bloom with beautiful purple flowers which will add a bit more life and colour to the space