Begoña Fernández |
Madrid (EFE).- In Spain there are children admitted to hospitals who are alone, without parental support, which causes them a state of anxiety that forces them to postpone tests and makes medical work difficult. Correcting this gap is the objective of health workers and NGOs who affirm that support accelerates healing and hospital discharge.
Mental health, in the case of supervised adolescents, and injuries in minors who are victims of abuse are the most recurrent pathologies in children admitted alone. There are also minors waiting for a transplant or children whose family has renounced them while in foster care when the minor develops a serious or terminal illness.
“Hospitals in action: not a single child”
“Hospitals in action: not a single child” is the motto of the day that the NGO Moms in Action celebrates this Friday, at the Niño Jesús hospital, and in which those responsible for the Pediatric services of hospitals in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona They agree that accompaniment improves neuronal capacity and represents a psychological benefit for the minor’s health.
One of the speakers, the head of pediatrics at the La Fe hospital in Valencia, Emilio Monteagudo, explains to EFE that “the reduction in hospital stay is not as important as the improvement that the support represents in the quality of life of the minor, in their state of mind and how they experience the hospitalization process.”
In his presentation, “Cariñoterapia”, Dr. Monteguado highlights the significance of the emotional lack in the child, either due to the absence of parents or due to insufficient attachment, and the consequences on their development. He also emphasizes “the importance of loving treatment with patients, whether children or adults.”
Accompaniment for up to six months while waiting for a transplant
For five years, the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital has admitted minors accompanied by volunteers from this NGO, while they wait for a heart transplant.
The last of them, a months-old baby, has just undergone surgery and has satisfactorily passed into the postoperative period, the head of pediatric transplants, Manuela Camino, explains to EFE.
In the case of these children, the support of the NGO is to provide support to the biological family who, in many cases, have moved from the community and have more children, so it is about reconciling so that the parents can attend to the rest.
The hardest part is the wait to receive the organ to be transplanted, which can last up to six months, during which time the volunteer is involved in feeding the child, participating in his grooming and entertaining him to make the stay more bearable.
“It is a time of uncertainty and it feels eternal. The postoperative period usually lasts another two months, one in the ICU and another on the ward, but it is now more bearable, you are waiting to be discharged,” says this doctor.
He explains that, in general, these are babies with severe heart malformation. “We give mothers a prenatal diagnosis, they give birth here or they are referred to this hospital, which is a reference center, the children are admitted to the neonatal ICU and when they are stabilized they are transferred to the ward.”
Accompaniment represents a great psychological benefit for the child’s health
Camino affirms that the accompaniment represents a great psychological benefit for the child’s health and for the parents, and the center’s satisfaction with the NGO is “very high.”
This doctor is convinced that the stay is shortened because a well-cared for baby neurologically, who eats and gains weight, means that he is comfortable.
They also express their satisfaction from the Niño Jesús hospital, where they have worked with the NGO since its creation and underline its “rigor, promptness, dedication and commitment.”
In fact, this was the first hospital in which this NGO launched accompaniment, “and every week there is a presence of Moms in Action, in any of the specialties,” the head of Patient Care, Pilar Herreros, explains to EFE. .
Moms in Action, in 31 hospitals in eight Spanish cities
The NGO, which is celebrating ten years, has accumulated 50,000 hours of support for 700 minors spread across 31 hospitals in eight cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Castellón, Murcia, Cartagena and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Its founder Moja Gimeno explains to EFE that there are 3,000 volunteers who work shifts seven days a week and 24 hours a day. The most frequent accompaniment lasts a few weeks, but they have spent up to a year in the hospital.
More volunteers join every month, but those who do not fulfill the commitment of three accompaniment a year are also dismissed.
Taking advantage of this day, Gimeno calls on administrations to promote campaigns to make this reality visible, which remains hidden for many citizens.
