The Sant Joan de Reus University Hospital has conditioned the waiting room to which children with diabetes come to be more cozy, promote healthy habits and help families understand the disease.
This has been possible thanks to a cooperation agreement with Lilly to install a playful-formative space called Play Zone, with games and educational resources.In this way, children entertain and relax before their medical or nursing consultation.
"We welcome initiatives such as the one we present today since they help us humanize medicine and, in this specific case, to make the stay in our hospital more to a very important group for us such as children with diabetes. AlsoWe thank Lilly to help us, with this initiative, to publicize the disease and make the children's stay in our center more comfortable, ”said Noemí Llauradó, president of the Sant Joan de Reus hospital.
From the new space, more than 60 children will benefit who currently attend diabetes consultation at the Sant Joan Hospital, the first of Catalonia to host the initiative, which will soon expand to other Catalan centers.
“In the Play Zone it is promoted in a fun and easy way, through game, diabetes care and the importance of a healthy lifestyle.It is a program that positively impacts both minors who expect to consult, suffer or not the disease, as well as in the family members.All this contributes to normalize diabetes in the population, ”explained Teresa Millán, director of Corporate Affairs of Lilly.
When a minor with diabetes is diagnosed, it is common for the child to have to go to hospital consultations once or twice a week, initially, and every two or three months when the treatment is stabilized.With the installation of a playful zone such as Play Zone, it is tried to reduce the level of stress that it is for them to go to the hospital.
The space includes games, tables and chairs for children to entertain and paint, and reading areas with educational stories such as those starring the monita Coco, the first Disney character with diabetes.With a pleasant and simple language, these stories explain how Coco can make the same life as other children of their age, provided that their illness is planned and known.The character arose thanks to a worldwide agreement reached in 2011 by Lilly and Disney to reduce the impact of diabetes on childhood with a positive message against the disease.