BarcelonaMaëlys no longer has to choose whether her cell phone or a book enters her isolation room. She is 16 years old and is admitted to the Vall d’Hebron Children’s Hospital because she has had a stem cell transplant after suffering a relapse of leukemia. After spending a week in a room of just seven square meters, Maëlys and her mother, Sònia, have opened one of the nine specially designed individual rooms in the Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology and Hematology Area in the center of Barcelona to provide their maximum emotional well-being. “She loves to draw and we used to have to choose between watercolors, paints or pencils. It was like going to a desert island and choosing only two things to take away. Now it’s more like what the his room,” says Sonia, excited. In addition, this new room maintains the strict hygiene measures to protect cancer patients with suppressed immune systems, while mother and daughter can live together: Sonia can sleep on a sofa bed instead of an armchair , they can eat together in the room and have an individual bathroom.
Vall d’Hebron Hospital has renovated and doubled the spaces of the Hematopoietic Progenitor Transplantation Unit (of stem cells) thanks to funding from the Aladina, Albert Bosch and Small foundations and the Catalan Health Institute ( ICS). There are now a total of nine rooms – previously there were seven – and the purpose is to provide optimal comfort for children and adolescents who suffer from cancer and hematological diseases and who must be hospitalized to receive highly complex treatments. For example, bone marrow transplants or advanced therapies such as CAR-T. In fact, apart from the new rooms, shared spaces have also been created, such as a play area, a special one for teenagers, another rest area for family members, a dining room, a hospital classroom and a gym.
The whole of the first phase of this comprehensive reform has had a cost of 4 million euros in terms of the work and one million euros for the medical equipment. Together with the second phase, on which work has already begun, the total cost will be 7.4 million euros. The head of the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Service, Lucas Moreno, celebrated this Tuesday the reform of the area and assessed that “it is not a renewal, but a new paradigm”. “Unfortunately, we cannot change the reality of children who have to receive transplants, but we can improve this reality,” he says. This is why the hospital and the three foundations have committed to converting the old isolation rooms into rooms with a protected environment; a conceptual change that also makes it easier for children to go out and enjoy more playful areas.
Change of street clothes
In previous rooms, patients had to wash in bed and urinate in a urinal that was kept under the bed. “She used to say that it was very humiliating to wash with her parents inside, now she has a bathroom so she can be alone and shower whenever she wants,” rejoices Sònia, who emphasizes that even the light makes it a little easier the stay There is yet another change: until now parents had to change into sterilized hospital clothes to enter, but with the transformation of spaces and protocols, they can now enter the rooms in street clothes and enjoy of a more welcoming and open accompaniment. In the future, the idea is that young people will also be able to go outdoors, thanks to the new terrace that will open.
Xavi, father of a 4-year-old girl who has neuroblastoma and has undergone an autotransplantation, is another of the families who have opened one of the protected rooms. “It can’t be compared,” he says. “It’s a situation that no one wants, but if it happens to you, at least you’re fine. In our case, my daughter lives the situation out of inertia, but she doesn’t understand anything and wants to get out of there,” he adds.
The new unit also means an improvement in the conditions in which professionals will work, partly because non-invasive monitoring has been installed that allows professionals to have more immediate control of patients. “We have found the ideal formula to combine comfort with the most innovative technology, with semi-critical patient medical equipment, which means an important leap in quality and safety,” explained Esther Diaz, supervisor of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Nursing .
