A place without white coats: how family rooms in hospitals become a consolation for families

Rubryka visited the family room of Lviv's Okhmatdyt and learned why such initiatives are not only about comfort but also about the right to live with dignity.

Often in Okhmatdyt, they don't just get treated, they actually live there. By the time I arrive, the anniversary of Davyd's almost uninterrupted stay in the hospital is a few days away, as well as his first birthday.

"Little Davyd is our star here! One day you will tell everyone how you were interviewed here," says Alina, the mother of the boy, who at the same time looks intently into the lens and ignores all attempts to make him smile.

After giving birth to a son, Alina didn't hear his first cry; the boy couldn't breathe on his own due to bilateral paralysis of the diaphragm. Davyd was immediately put on the ventilator and this way he spent his first six months.

The opportunity to breathe cost 50 thousand dollars, which were collected for the baby all over the country. In the end, the boy was implanted with a stimulant, the first operation of its kind in Ukraine. But even this was only the first stage of treatment.