Østfold Hospital, Cancer | A must have haven for young patients in Kalnes – used as an office for two

In 2014, Mathilde lost the battle against cancer. Before her death, she and her parents designed a show for young patients in the hospital.

She wanted a room with natural elements, which stands in stark contrast to the sterile feeling you get in a hospital. It should be a room where friends can visit young patients, play games, eat good food, and have a break from everyday life as a patient.

In 2019, the room was finally ready for use, and Mathilder’s room could be opened. Then came 2020 and the Corona epidemic that ended the space business – before it even opened.

used as offices

– We had to close the room. We didn’t know what it was like with contact infection on chairs etc. Plus, it’s been difficult to clear, says Katia Stingor, chief of the cancer department.

He adds:

– So we decided to put desks so that we could use the room as an office. During the pandemic, we also used a room for conversations between parents from time to time.

– When will the room reopen?

– We hope to open it after Easter. That’s the point, stingor replies.

It had to be solved in another way

The Mathilder Room will be run by the Østfold Hospital Youth Council with parents. We spoke with youth council president Frederic Boye (22).

– What do you think about the fact that the room was used as an office for two years?

– I understand that you can not use the room due to infection and the difficulty of disinfection, but it could have been solved in another way? Bøe answers before adding.

– We talked about it a little at the youth council. Answer: We believe it was a mistake not to open the room immediately, when they were told that guests could cross the suites and the restrictions were lowered.

– At the same time, we fully understand that the hospital has been in a special situation during the pandemic, and that decisions that may be very unpopular, with us or with others, must be made by professionals in the field, continues Bøe.

a little communication

– Do Mathilde’s parents know that the room is closed to patients for two years?

– Due to the Corona case, contact was not maintained. We don’t know what they know and don’t know about room use during those two years. The Youth Council responds, hoping to restore contact when the room reopens.

The Youth Council also wants to add more things to the room.

We don’t want to do anything inside itself, because that’s how Mathilde wanted it to look. But we want to offer more things to do. For example, enter PlayStation and arrange agreements with several takeaway locations in the area, Bøe explains.

was cancerous

Frederick has been a member of the Youth Council since its inception in 2017, and was elected leader in 2020. He will be part of the Council until he is older, a year later.

He himself was ill. When he was three years old, Frederick was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer.

– I’m probably not in good health from a technical point of view. I have a dead tumor behind one eye, and since I became “well” when I was 8, I’ve been going for checkups twice a year. It’s a rare type of cancer, so you don’t know if the tumor will ever come back active again, says Bøe.

With that background, he knows full well how much such a show, like Mathilder’s Room, would mean.

– I don’t quite remember how old I was, maybe 6-7 years old, and I was at Ullevål Hospital. There they had a similar room, with some toys and stuff in it, and it was big for me.

This is the main goal

– The fact that it is hoped that Mathilderommet will soon reopen, we see as a step in the right direction towards our main objective, a separate youth department as an intermediate station from the children’s department to the adult department.

– Do you think it opens after Easter?

– Earlier this week, I was at a meeting of the Patient and Relative Education Board, and there I took Mathilder’s room, answers Bøe.

– The answer I got is that there is a clear opening of the room after Easter. I don’t know if that will happen, but if the opening does not go according to plan, we will be our first priority to open it. Everyone on the board has a connection to being in the hospital and knows how important this offer is.