Geneva: Christmas decorations to brighten up hospitals

Being hospitalized at Christmas is really not fun… To counter the ambient gloom, the Love Therapy Zero association has been decorating the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) for around fifteen years. His team, made up of 34 volunteers, is called the Angels Designers.

This year, five establishments were beautified: the cantonal hospital, the children’s hospital, the House of Childhood and Adolescence, without forgetting the HUG Collonge-Bellerive and the Trois-Chêne.

We recently met five Love Therapy Zero volunteers at Children’s Hospital. In front of the main entrance, a giant Nutcracker Prince greets us, dressed in red and white. Once in the hall, Santas hanging from the ceiling take over. “We focus on the departments where it is most difficult to be hospitalized or visited,” explains one of the three founders of Love Therapy Zero, Valeria Tassan Din Visconti.

Colorful ceilings

Driven by boundless energy, this Italian native guides us through the pediatric floors to discover the many ornaments. “These decorations are made by our volunteers, we focus on the ceilings of the corridors to reduce the anxiety of little patients. You can see them when you are lying in bed,” she emphasizes.

And the result is very successful: blue and silver Christmas balls, red ribbons garnishing pine cones fixed high up, with decorated fir trees in the corners, all give the spaces a festive air.

“The Angels Designers have been preparing the decorations at home for four or five months,” says Oksana, a volunteer who became involved in the association thirteen years ago, when her eldest son found himself hospitalized at the HUG for diabetes. . Our creations are then placed at the HUG at the beginning of November, for approximately three weeks.”

For the first time this year, Love Therapy Zero was able to decorate the operating room corridor as well as the waiting and recovery room. A 3 meter fir tree sits in the hall, snowflakes decorate the ceiling. The material comes from donations from department stores. “It’s kitsch and chic!” Valeria enthuses.

Unsold items from stores

Every year in January, Valeria Tassan Din Visconti writes to them to encourage them to sell their unsold items. And it works! Brands like Manor, Globus, MParc, Coop, Schilliger, Ikea and even Botanic, in neighboring France, are playing the game. In total, hundreds of decorations and Christmas baubles that the association then stores in the basements of hospitals, in a cellar offered by the Heritage Foundation or at the town hall of Chêne-Bougeries.

The creations are also “homemade”. Students from the Lancy International Institute made some, volunteers knitted others. The DIY workshop, another initiative of the association (Angels Kids), also allowed little patients to make them themselves.

In the parking lot, a huge tree has been decorated with large red and pink hearts, as if to protect against illness.

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Judith Monfrini is a journalist for the local section. With a legal background, she obtained her diploma from the Journalism and Media Training Center (CFJM) in 2015. She worked for more than ten years for the Médiaone group. (Radio Lac, One fm)More info

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