The Covid-19 Care Centre at Goregaon has motivated patients through recreational activities and sports
Patients have been kept engaged with recreational activities, sports and laughter therapy
The mental stress that patients admitted to Covid-19 hospitals undergo is probably inexplicable. The reports of deaths only aggravate it. Often many such patients, most of whom are in isolation, lose their confidence due to this. This is where the role of doctors and health care staff matters. A Covid-19 Care Centre (CCC) in Mitha Nagar in Goregaon west has been helping patients with recreational activities and sports and in turn, boosting their confidence and helping them recover.
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The sports items such as badminton equipment were donated by local corporator Srikala Pillai
Dr Kusum Gupta, the in-charge of the CCC, told mid-day that the premises of the centre are huge as it is in a government-run school, and she has been using the sprawling ground for the recreational activities, sports and laughter therapy, which have been collectively fruitful in the faster recovery of patients. She also said that patients’ complaints have reduced since the activities started around Gudhi Padva.
“The capacity of this CCC is approximately 165 and at present we have 60 Covid-19 positive patients. Most coronavirus positive patients reel under fear of death, so our prime focus is to first kill the fear, and it is only possible if we keep them engaged,” Dr Gupta told mid-day.
Keeping patients engaged
“In a bid to boost the confidence level of our patients, we started recreational activities, yoga classes, daily counselling, sports activities like cricket, badminton, football, etc,” said Dr Gupta.
She added that the patients feel happy to interact with each other at the centre while playing indoor and outdoor games. She further added that the sports items were donated by local corporator Srikala Pillai who had visited the centre.
“I saw the patients sitting idle. So, I donated some sports items like cricket bats, footballs, badminton equipment, chess, etc. to keep them engaged whole day. Also, I visited the centre to celebrate Gudhi Padva with them and the patients felt at home,” said Pillai.
All the patients, young and old, danced and enjoyed the sumptuous food and sweets brought by Pillai to mark Gudhi Padva.
‘Encouraging people to help each other’
“One should not feel isolated at the time of this pandemic. We have been encouraging people to help each other to boost confidence levels,” said Dr Gupta, further adding that local residents have also been very helpful, and have been distributing coconut water and fruits, etc. to the patients.
“At this Centre, most of the patients have mild symptoms and they need to be isolated, but since their houses are compact, they have been admitted to this centre,” Dr Gupta said.
“In a few cases, we have seen people abandoning their maid if she tested positive. But during contact tracing, we find the maids and have been treating them too here,” she added.
Dr Gupta further underlined that laughter classes, yoga, counselling and breathing exercise have been a great help in the recovery of patients at the centre where there are three daily medical check-ups of each patient.
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