Airdrie resident Nicole Sult has turned a dream into reality, literally. The Registered Nurse who works at the Peter Lougheed Centre woke one night from a dream she can't quite remember but for whatever reason all she could think of was a library. 

"I just was thinking about my patients and how some of them are in isolation rooms and bored. All they have is a T.V., and some rooms don't even have working T.V.s," she said. "I thought I wanted to do something - and so I decided to set up a library in the unit."

And so she began by going through her collection of books and found a few stacks that she could use to start the library. 

"The patients started using them and I was running around thinking I have to reach out to people to see who can donate books."

Initially, she thought that perhaps another few dozens books would be donated. Instead, she has now amassed over 600 books. Sult, who works in Unit 39, the respiratory unit of the Peter Lougheed Centre said that the work on the unit is difficult. Many patients have long-term lung illnesses that impede them from being able to do many things. 

But it's not just the donation of books that has Sult overwhelmed.

"A patient's family member who was there visiting; the patient was sleeping. So, I asked if they wanted a book and they said, 'yes!'" Sult said. "They came over and they found a book and they were very grateful to just have something to do while they're waiting."

Sult, who herself is a voracious reader said that reading a book is more than a way to pass time.

"I think just having a variety of different options for them and then being able to get out of their situation for even a moment, [and] being able to escape and not think about what's happening with them...putting themselves into someone else's story. I think that that just really helps them."

She is also planning on donating her favourite books by author Francine Rivers to add to the library. But, for the time being, Sult is also looking for bookshelves to be donated as she has quickly run out of space for her makeshift library. She is also thinking of reaching out to other units to ask if they too would be interested in having their own libraries. 

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