Česky
On Saturday, 27 June 2015, the neonatology department of Hořovice Hospital organized the 1st. Garden Festival for babies under 34 weeks of pregnancy born in 2011 and 2012, who with more or less problems went through their intensive care. The children were three and four years old. How the idea was born and how the celebration took place was revealed by the head of the neonatology department MUDr. Milena Dokoupilová.
How did the idea to organize a meeting of children and their parents in the Hořovice castle park come about?
This idea was ripe as wine. Already two years ago, the idea or wish to meet after years with the children we took care of and who spent the first weeks of their lives in our ward. I see a lot of children in the at-risk ward until at least one year of age. But the nurses were also interested in how the children look and how they are doing after all these years. It's certainly interesting to meet parents who are already dealing with issues other than whether their baby is eating well and gaining weight. The main organizer of the whole celebration was the head nurse of the neonatology department Mgr. Kamila Přádová, who prepared the whole program with the nurses from the intensive care unit.
How many children did you invite, how many came?
A total of 54 children were invited, 26 confirmed their participation and finally 30 of our children arrived. Of course, siblings were also invited. In total, over 100 people attended the festival.
What are your feelings when you see babies three years later who were born prematurely or had major complications after birth?
In a word - beautiful. Our own children helped at the celebration. The final feelings of everyone were probably best summed up by nurse Maruška when she summed up the day: " A great day... a mixture of joy, friendship, laughter and tears of emotion. We all had a great time and I'm glad my daughters saw for themselves the 30 or so reasons why I'm not home as often as other moms ... they joined in and talked about the kids and the day for a long time. I went in after two nights and then two days, and yet they didn't pull faces or protest that we don't see enough of each other. So I want to thank Kamila, Mili and all the girls who helped with the preparation for the opportunity to not only see our little patients, but also to show our own children the important work we do ... for the opportunity to be a role model for them."
But you also realize that after 3 or 4 years, your parents will come to you, they will take their time. And that's another reward for our very hard work.
How do you feel about Saturday's event? Do you intend to continue?
I think that the first garden festival was a great success. The weather played with us for a while, but eventually settled down just in time for the event and allowed us to spend a wonderful afternoon of interesting games with our children and parents. The children performed various tasks for which they received stamps and at the end they received a commemorative medal and lots of gifts. I would like to thank my Matron, the whole team of nurses and the sponsors for the excellent preparation and organisation. We plan to continue this tradition. As the number of children undergoing our intensive care increases year by year, there will be more garden fetes after each year. So next year, children who were born in 2013 before their 34th week of pregnancy can look forward to it. We are planning the event for mid-June.
