New blog pulls back curtain on employees and patients of Sudbury's hospital

A new blog has been set up to tell the personal stories of the people behind Sudbury's hospital masks.

Humans of HSN [Health Sciences North] is a Tumblr site that features photos, videos and short stories of staff and patients. 

"We want our audience to feel a human connection to the hospital," creator Sarah Wendorf said.

"It's a large building. It can be intimidating for patients who come in. We want to make it more of a human place where you get to know the people who work at and visit the hospital," she said.

Wendorf started the blog last month in her role as a social media and web specialist at Health Sciences North. She said she was inspired by the popular Humans of New York blog. 

Wendorf said the reaction has been positive so far. 

"The stories feature the human side of health care, so the nurse that you see in the hallway or the physician that treats you every day," Wendorf said. "It's nice to get to know them on a different level."

Stories feature 'human side' of health care 

The community development coordinator for the Northern Cancer Foundation, Shane Gordon, was recently featured for his interest in competitive curling. He is trying to make it to the Brier curling championship.

"People spot me and say oh you're that guy who was on Humans of HSN. Tell me about your curling," Gordon said. "There's a lot more curling fans at the hospital than I originally thought there was, so that's pretty cool."

Gordon said the experience is helping him get to know the hospital's community better. 

"There's a lot of cool stories that people — staff here — you wouldn't necessarily know. So to get together and share something like that, it's pretty cool," he said.

Wendorf is inviting any one who wants to share their hospital experience to get in touch by emailing communications@hsnsudbury.ca.