Monday April 27, 2026
CareXperience Tanks is an initiative by the Eastern Health Patient Experience team, as part of Patient Experience Week (27 April -1 May), where staff are offered the opportunity to present and receive funding for ideas to improve patient experience.
Funding for these selected ideas comes from generous donations to Eastern Health Foundation.
Below are the winners of CareXperience Tanks 2026:
Danni Gould and Sabrina Hernandez
The Accessible Cardio Project: Empowering Safe Movement for Every Body
This project aims to help neurological patients exercise safely and comfortably with dignity using specialised equipment.
Grant funding will purchase NuStep. With its secure arm and leg support, along with stabilisers, the equipment will build confidence in patients after stroke. This helps reduce fear of falling, simplify transfers and allow longer exercise sessions.
Aerobic training after stroke leads to better quality of life, including enhanced vascular health, improved aerobic capacity and walking endurance, and cognitive gains.
Robyn Wright, John Menzies, Paul Mccann and Emily Thomson
Windows to the sky
To improve children’s experience at the Eastern Health Maroondah Emergency Department paediatric area, this project aims to create a welcoming, safe and engaging environment for all children.
The area transformation will involve roof and wall painting, props and toys for imaginative play, stickers and wall decals. This change will positively impact the experience of children and their families while receiving care at Eastern Health.
Julie-Ann Evans and Helen Seamer
Daybed for relatives
Purchasing a daybed for Eastern Health Maroondah Critical Care Unit (CCU) aims to enhance the experience of patients and their families and reduce anxiety, by enabling relatives or support persons to remain close during periods of critical illness.
The proposed daybed can be easily moved into a patient’s room to facilitate overnight stays for a relative, or utilised in the doctor’s office as a private and comfortable space for relatives awaiting updates during highly stressful situations.
Karina Rodset, Amy Makris, Belinda Frith and Ian Shroen
Supporting our obstetrics patients at difficult times
This project plans to create a dedicated counselling room at Eastern Health Box Hill Medical Imaging area, for women and couples undergoing fetal diagnostic ultrasound, particularly when difficult or unexpected news is discussed.
Instead of receiving sensitive information in busy clinical areas, families will have a private, calm and supportive space that promotes dignity and emotional safety.
Comfortable seating, soft lighting, and non-medical surrounds will help reduce stress and allow patients to process information more comfortably.
Sarah Tan
Virtual Immersion for Better Experience (VIBE)
Virtual reality has shown strong potential to aid symptom management, psychological relief, cognitive stimulation and provides an option for patients to fulfill “bucket list” items and relive memories that are meaningful to them.
This project aims to bring virtual reality to palliative care enabling patients to “visit” their favourite places and experience new environments when they are physically unable to travel.
Clare Neale and Emma Cain
Sensory modulation courtyard in Intensive Care Area
This project looks to transform the intensive care area of Mental Health Inpatient Unit at Eastern Health Maroondah to feel less institutional and more recovery-focused.
The grant will provide a boxing style punching bag for consumers offering a safe, structured outlet for the physical release; supporting emotional regulation and reducing the likelihood of aggression being directed toward co-consumers, staff or the environment.
Additionally, access to an improved outdoor space enhanced with sensory plants promotes grounding, mindfulness, and nervous system regulation, further contributing to a more therapeutic and recovery-oriented care setting.
Maddie Stubbs, Emily Lile and Olivia Fall
Concrete to Comfort: Improving the women’s courtyard for safety and gender sensitive recovery
This project aims to transform the courtyard at Upton House, a Mental Health Inpatient Unit at Eastern Health Box Hill to create a space specifically for women and consumers who require a separate, safe environment to engage in therapeutic activities.
A sensory garden will be added to the courtyard to create a calming and therapeutic environment.
Spaces such as this courtyard will ensure care remains gender sensitive, particularly in non–gender specific units like Upton House.
JiJo Mathews and Katalin Pal
Outback Oasis: Creating a Calming Australian Bush Mural
South ward at Eastern Health Peter James is an Older Adult Inpatient Mental Health and Wellbeing ward with Memory Care Area (MCA) recently added for dementia patients.
Exposure to nature and natural colours has also been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and agitation, while supporting circadian rhythm and emotional regulation.
This project plans to improve the therapeutic environment of the MCA by adding an Australian bush mural to the walls and plastic plants for the indoor courtyard area.
Kate Robinson
ICU Comfort & Dignity Project: Designing a Personalised, Comfort‑Focused Palliative Care Room
This project plans to convert one of the rooms at Eastern Health Angliss ICU into a dual purpose room. With artwork, soft furnishings, decorative plants and a specialised bedhead that reduces the visual impact of medical equipment, the room becomes less intimidating and more comforting to patients. A comfortable family seating area will also enable loved ones to stay close to the patient.
The room transformation aims to reduce environmental stress, enhance emotional wellbeing, support cultural and personal preferences, and ensures that the final stage of life is experienced with dignity, compassion and warmth.
Congratulations to all the recipients of the grants. Thank you for your dedication to creating a positive experience for our patients.