Trade show displays are often used in trade events and sales booths but a hospital in Thunder Bay, Ontario is using trade displays to raise awareness on serious health issues among young individuals.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is a state-of-the-art acute care facility that specializes in providing healthcare for residents of the Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario area. But while the TBRHSC is known for its cutting-edge healthcare practices, it is also recognized for raising awareness on a variety of health issues, including preventable health injuries.

Shelley Chisolm, Regional Injury Prevention Coordinator at TBRHSC, says that preventable injuries should be a top concern among teenagers, young adults, parents and educators. One of Chisolm’s many initiatives is an education program geared towards high school students called P.A.R.T.Y (Preventing Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth).

For Chisolm, the P.A.R.T.Y program has been an integral part of educating teens and high school students on the risks of preventable injuries.

“Preventable injuries are the leading cause of death for [the] youth,” Chisolm says. This makes education, awareness, and the eye opening experience of what happens on the other end of a bad decision that much more important.

Chisolm realized that the TBRHSC needed to take their efforts a step further by allowing students to experience what it would be like in a real life trauma room. But since a completely new trauma room designed solely exhibition purposes would be far too expensive, Chisolm and her team did the next best thing.

TBRHSC has mocked-up a real life emergency room using three Hop Up Displays. The displays, which are normally used as graphic backgrounds for trade show booths, are set up alongside one another to create a panoramic backdrop of a trauma room. The display is made out of two curved 10’ Hop Up Displays on the sides with a single straight 10’ Hop Up for the middle display.

At the center of the makeshift emergency room is a fake moulaged victim lying on a bed, designed to represent an injured patient.

Because of the high quality prints that come with the Hop Up Displays, the fabric prints are able to capture a near life-like representation of a hospital E.R. Used in conjunction with trained educators and health specialists, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, with the help of GLM Displays, is able to reach out to more students than ever before.

The E.R mock up allows Chisolm and her team to quickly and easily transport, assemble and store away the display within minutes, making mobile presentations possible for students who aren’t able to spare the time or resources to take a field trip to the hospital. Students are shown what its like to experience an emergency room without leaving their own school.

“We typically have students attend the P.A.R.T.Y program at the hospital,” explains Chisholm. “But since developing a portable ‘trauma room’ with GLM Displays, we are able to provide a realistic trauma room in the high school setting, reaching more youth with these important injury prevention messages.”

With the help of GLM Displays representative, Matthew Lunser, Chisolm has turned what would normally be a traditional marketing tool into an effective educational platform.

“[Matthew Lunser from GLM Displays] has been incredibly helpful in asking the right questions to understand what it was [we were] trying to accomplish. [He] offered help with imaging and finalizing the product. It was what I wanted -- realistic, quick and easy to assemble, portable and really reasonably priced.”

Chisolm’s use of the Hop Up Displays is a testament to the kind of versatility offered by GLM Displays. Even outside of the trade show setting, trade show displays are still a great way to showcase full-sized prints in new and creative ways outside of the marketing and sales arena.