Parents of premature babies at the Hospital de Faro gain comfort in their difficult wait

It may seem little, but, says those who have already been there, the remodeling of the "Parents Room and Mothers Room" of the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Medicine Service (SMIPN) of the Hospital de Faro, inaugurated today, «is a great upgrade for someone who is already going through a phase of anguish and worry».

Nascer Prematuro – Portuguese Association of Parents of Premature Babies saw the IKEA store in Loulé choose as the winner of the contest “Small changes, big future” the project to remodel the waiting room for mothers and fathers of premature babies who are hospitalized in Neonatology of the Faro unit of the Hospital and University Center of the Algarve.

“Parents who have their children hospitalized in the neonatology unit, when they come here, in addition to visiting their children in the incubator room, they may often have to have a meal, make a phone call, rest a little. And the space they had set aside for this was very impersonal, very cold," he explained to Sul Informação Rute Gago, from Nascer Prematuro, on the sidelines of the inauguration of this waiting room, which took place today, World Prematurity Day.

Now, thanks to the intervention carried out by IKEA, the room “has suddenly become a more beautiful and welcoming space, where we feel like being, where we can feel comfort and where we feel happier”.

“It consists of a living room and a bedroom with a bathroom. The bedroom at the moment has a very fluffy mattress, a quilt beautiful, all the comfort you need, storage space. If, eventually, a mother has to stay overnight here in the unit because she lives far away or because she is breastfeeding her child and needs to do it at night, here is this room, which you can enjoy with all the comfort you need at this stage so difficult that it is going through,” he added.

despite this mini house be used only in more complicated situations, «difficult to be minimized», by having «a more welcoming, more joyful space, for sure that our state of mind will also be better than if we are in a cold and loveless space. without affection».

Ruth Gago - Photo: Nuno Costa | Sul Informação

João Rosa, director of the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Medicine Service, is also grateful for the initiative, which he believes “is great for us and excellent for the parents of our babies”.

“The space already existed, but now it is, without a doubt, much more welcoming”, he assured.

According to Abdelhak Ayadi, director of the IKEA store in Loulé, Nascer Prematuro's candidacy was chosen among the 15 submitted to the contest “Small changes, great future”.

And the challenge was not easy, he confesses, considering the specificity of the task.

"I assure you that doing this was much more challenging than, for example, setting up a complete and functional kitchen in a small space," said the head of IKEA de Loulé.

Ana Castro, president of the Board of Directors of CHUA, also speaks of challenges, but those of the Neonatology service, «one of the excellence we have in the hospital».

"I am well aware that there is a shortage of people and we are trying to solve it", promised the head of the Algarve hospitals, who has been in office for about four months.

For now, the service has gained this renovated space, which is available to current and future parents.

“I've already been here and would have had a better stay if IKEA had already done this refurbishment, because it's a place where you feel like being. It's beautiful! Thank you very much to IKEA, for the dedication and affection that you can see here”, concluded Rute Gago.

Photos: Nuno Costa | Sul Informação