Decorations turn makeshift hospital into a cozy community
Medics at a local makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients are cheering up patients by encouraging them to decorate the facility and turn it into a warm and cozy community.
The facility on Jinian Road in Hongkou District is managed by Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. It receives patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms and asymptomatic infections, many of whom are middle-aged or elderly.
"Many patients are residents of Hongkou, which has many old lanes, shikumen (stone-gated) buildings and other traditional Shanghai-style buildings. So, we came up with the idea of inviting them to decorate the facility with more Shanghai flavors," said Zhou Jia, president of Yueyang Hospital.
"It can enhance their mood and provide a more cozy and familiar atmosphere for patients."
Different sections of the makeshift hospital have been named after different lanes or areas in the city. A lucky few got a double boost on realizing they are in a section named after their own neighborhood.
Patients said the decorations have helped ease their anxieties, making them feel like neighbors and improving their mutual bonding.
A patient and medics at the makeshift hospital on Jinian Road put up a board naming one of its section as Tianzifang, a renovated shikumen area in downtown Shanghai.
