“Due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, in the spring of 2020, schools an kindergartens were closed down, causing major inconvenience for parents with young children, who needed help with childcare while working. We provided in-house day-care services for the children of Semmelweis employees until to end of the 2020 school year – said Orsolya Besze, head of the psychology work group and clinical psychologist at the 2nd Department of Pediatrics.
They also organized activities and classes for preschoolers and provided school age children with opportunities for distance learning. Psychologists, physiotherapists, social workers, and the staff of the 2nd Department of Pediatrics of Semmelweis University have all been involved in the organization of the day-care activities. The children were accommodated in the vacant rooms of the Foundation for Children with Cancer and in the apartments of the nearby Hotel Corvin.
For all their efforts made during the pandemic the department was recognizsed with the award for “Family-friendly hospital innovations during the epidemic”. The award was presented to the staff of the department at the 23rd congress of The Hungarian Hospital Society on 16th June 2021.
Although it was a tremendous effort to meet the unforeseen challenges posed by the pandemic and to provide day-care for children, it was a real pleasure to collaborate with other Semmelweis staff and to see how willingly the organizations helped.
– emphasized Orsolya Besze, adding: This spring, schools and kindergartens had to be shut down for the second time. Since the day-care service was a great success last year, we were able to to organize it for the second time to hep parents.
Ádám Szabó
Photo: Andrea Péter – Three Princes, Three Princesses Movement
Translation: Norbert Lukács
