Papers for Patients

Ann Arbor News and local businesses team up to bring patients a piece of everyday life while in the hospital

It all started at a Pioneer High School football game. Ann Arbor News circulation manager and football mom Rhonda Warren was chatting with another mom who is a University Hospital nurse.

“When I mentioned that I work for the Ann Arbor News, she said how important it is for patients to get a daily newspaper and how most of the time, it’s the staff who purchase papers for patients,” says Warren.

“I got to thinking,” she continues, “most of us have been in the hospital or had a loved one in the hospital. It can be so isolating, especially if you’re there for more than three days. So I thought, ‘Why not provide newspapers to patients at cost?’” thus, the Papers for Patients program was born.

Due to best practice policies, newspaper publishers cannot give papers away, so Warren sought sponsors to buy the papers.

Saturn of Ann Arbor responded immediately, supplying newspapers to families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. Talk Radio WAAM 1600 joined the program this past summer, supplying 218 free papers a day—seven days a week, 365 days a year—to eight Hospital units: 4A, 4B/C, 5B, 5C, 6A, 6B, 8A and 8C. Because the program started mid-year, the first year costs were $5,981. WAAM expects to spend about $10,622 in 2007.

“It has a big impact on patients,” says Gloria Wilson, unit host on 5B, Acute Internal Medicine. “‘This makes me feel normal,’ ‘Thank you, what a great idea’ and ‘You have made my day’ are just a few of the comments I hear. If the patient doesn’t feel like reading, family members will take the paper and read it to them.”

The donation was coordinated through UMHS Community Health Services with support from Entrance Services and Volunteer Services. Volunteer Services funds papers for patients and families at Wilmot House and the Transplant House as well.

“Something as simple as having a newspaper puts people in a comfort zone,” Warren says. “It’s a great way to keep people connected to the community, to sports, to the season.”

And it all started with a little conversation at a high school football game.

Interested? Call 734-936-5506 or send an e-mail.