Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/@cooperadora.sanroque.58
This is the moment a cheery kid drives himself to surgery in an electric toy car as part of the hospital’s new initiative to decrease children’s stress levels ahead of an op.
The clever idea was cooked up by staff at the Hospital San Roque in the city of Parana in the north-eastern Argentine province of Entre Rios and they are now operating two remote-controlled electric toy cars for younger patients.
As seen in the footage, instead of being wheeled into the operating theatre in a wheelchair or stretcher, children can whizz along the hospital corridors instead – under the remote-control of a doctor or adult member of staff.
The idea is that the children’s anxiety and stress levels are reduced in the moments leading up to their operation.
The hospital said that the electric cars were paid for by money collected by the Hospital San Roque Cooperative Association.
Association spokesperson Griselda Figueroa told local media: “The children leave their room in the vehicle, cross the corridor and arrive to the waiting room outside the operating theatre.
“When ready, the drive the vehicle into the theatre and they are so distracted that they enter with almost no fear or stress.”
Figueroa added: “The idea cropped up a few years ago when we saw how an Israeli hospital set up a similar measure that helped children to relax before going into surgery.”
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