Chinese Version
11-11-2021, Thursday, Sunny
In the morning, as a taxi driver and a companion, I visited the hospital in downtown Boston. I got the green pass at the entrance without being asked the common questions about COVID-19. This experience made me feel that the hospital was gradually
returning to normal operations after more than a year’s COVID-19 epidemic. Because in October last year, I got the green pass in a hospital after passing several sentries and being asked questions about COVID-19 several times.
The routine that was still carried on after the pandemic was that I must wear masks provided by the hospital before entering.
The parking lot of the hospital is far away from the hospital. I was often confused by various elevator labels for upstairs and downstairs in addition to southeast and northwest， so I easily lost track of where did I park after doctor visits. Because it was a physical examination rather than a illness-related visit, my escort led me between the floors and corridors so I only concentrated on them so that I wouldn’t get lost.
We smoothly came to the spacious waiting room, where the layout was two chairs side by side, with a transparent screen between each two chairs. The two side-by-side chairs were mostly occupied by two people. I felt more receptive to the warmth of having a companion while visiting the hospital. I saw an old couple in the waiting room asking where the doctor was because they went to the wrong floor. The receptionist explained to them: “Your doctor is on the third floor. We are on the second floor. You should take the elevator upstairs and ask again.” The two old people didn’t seem to understand and continued to ask.
As the depression and anxiety after the pandemic for more than a year became more common, I saw the small skills to maintain mental health are shown from time-to-time on all the rolling screens in the waiting room, such as “taking a new road to work to stimulate attention and activate brain cells.”, “remember to share your small achievements with friends and family.” , “have a small goal that can be achieved every day.”, and “keep a small book of positive thoughts or quotes to reflect on before your day begins.” I liked these tips very much.
Finally, we were called to the doctor’s office by the nurse. The touch screen in the office, rich in content and colors, attractive in sounds and motions, replaced the traditional magazine books which I was used to. I quickly adopted to slide the touch video to select the content to watch, which seemed to shorten the waiting time and made me happy.
Little Episodes
2. 11-11-2021, The receptionist desk in the hospital
The rolling screen in the waiting room:
“Mental Wellness Tip: Keep a small book of positive thoughts or quotes to reflect on before your day begins.”
The hallway of the hospital was very empty, the equipments in doctor’s office was very full, and the elevators marked with “Q” and “N” were very confusing. Feeling cozy warm to be accompanied for hospital visits.
3. Two months ago, on September 11, 2021, I went to the hospital for an annual checkup. When I went to the annual physical examination this morning, the waiting room for family doctors (Fig. 1) was much simpler than the waiting room for specialists (Fig. 2), and both places were not crowded. The alert for the pandemic situation in the hospital is much lower than last year. In the afternoon, I walked in downtown Boston, the high-rise buildings and busy traffic breed irritability, I’m really a countryside person.