FORSYTH COUNTY, NC -- What are you doing this weekend?
Going shopping? Got tickets to a ball game? Maybe take the kids out for some ice cream?
Stuff like that is fun.
But we often take for granted how easy it is to live our daily lives.
For thousands of patients stuck in hospitals locally and across the country, even every day errands are hard work.
That's why one Triad hospital has a revolutionary rehab center where patients can learn how to get re-acclimated to society by doing something that comes natural to most – grocery shopping.
Randy Harper with the Novant Health Forsyth County Rehabilitation Center says the Lowe’s Food Life Learning Lab helps patients physically, mentally, and emotionally.
“You really see here physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy,” said Harper. “It really does make a difference to their confidence and they're functional ability to say ‘Hey, I can do this. I can come home!’”
Charles Hance is a patient at Novant Health and he can’t wait until he’s healthy enough to go home.
Hance just had triple bypass surgery two weeks ago!
Now, life isn't as easy as it once was.
“Getting out of bed, getting out of a chair, getting out of the wheelchair, anything takes an extra effort,” said Hance.
So Hance has to relearn how to do everything.
His rehab starts at the lab.
It’s a mini-grocery store on the campus of the hospital.
But patients don't just learn how to shop, they're reminded how to safely get through crowds, how to use an ATM, and how to check out.
All the items in the store are weighted to match the items in a real store.
Nurses follow the patients on their mock shopping trips to make sure they stay safe and don’t fall.
The nurses also coach the patients on tasks that used to come as second nature but now takes more work.
“It takes a lot more thinking than it used to,” said Hance. “What you used to do automatically, you don't do it like that anymore.”
Hance says the most important thing he's learned is to slow down and take his time.
“You're not going to be able to do as much as you used to do until you build everything up,” said Hance. “You're going to have to take breaks.”
The Lowe’s Food Life Learning Lab has been open for 3 years and treats all different kinds of patients.
Harper says about 400 patients use the lab every year!