Hospital da Luz Coimbra has now a surprise for children going to surgery: an electrical minicar that transports them to the operating room, a short distance but quite intimidating. Therefore, in this minicar , always accompanied by the nursing and medical teams and under their parents’ surveillance, t he journey to the operating room is fun and reassuring. “The moments preceding surgery and everything involved – taking off their clothes and putting on the hospital pyjamas, going to the operating room on a stretcher and receiving anaesthesia – are always moments of anxiety. When we thought about what we could do to reduce the impact of those pre-surgical moments on children, this possibility arose”, explains Pedro Beja Afonso, the director of Hospital da Luz Coimbra. The minicar was offered by Sodicentro, Mercedes’ concessionaire in Coimbra, in the scope of its projects of social responsibility. “Sodicentro is grateful to be able to participate in this noble project towards the reduction of pre-operating stress in children”, highlights Rui Freire, the company’s sales manager. Thus, Hospital da Luz Coimbra’s hallways are transformed in small roads, where children drive around, joyful and relaxed, at the wheel of the minicar. And the relaxation and good mood thus generated have impact in the clinical aspect: abstracted from the hospital environment, the children feel less apprehensive about surgery, calmer in the moment of anaesthesia and, therefore, more serene when waking up.
