Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) and mask-wearing have become mainstays in our healthcare institutions. In turn, important modes of communication for healthcare professionals, facial expressions and the human smile, were lost.
As director of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Bridge Program – a student-run volunteer program I co-founded during my bachelor’s degree at McGill to help humanize and increase communication between ICU staff and families – I understood the impact that communication has on healthcare outcomes. In March 2020, volunteer activities within hospitals were suspended and our ICU volunteer numbers quickly dropped from 160 to 0. As such, my team and I pivoted to helping humanize healthcare in a different way: through the PPE Portrait Project.
The PPE Portrait Project is an art and medical intervention designed to provide a human touch and connection via a smiling headshot portrait fixed to the outside of a healthcare worker’s PPE. The purpose is two-fold: strengthening team dynamics and improving patient care. Being able to see the person behind the PPE helps decrease patient isolation and fear and increase professional trust and connection.
The project started in Montreal and McGill’s affiliated institutions and expanded to nine cities with the help of McGill alumni and former ICU volunteers who attended medical schools in other Canadian provinces. PPE Portraits Canada now has over 700 portraits requested and counting.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible McGill community; from staff to current and former students, everyone has shown a willingness to work together and pool their time and resources to help provide warmth and care to patients nationwide during a time of great need.
I am incredibly honoured and proud to be part of this McGill community, which has taught me so much both inside and outside of the classroom and has helped me develop my hard and soft skills in order to help others.