Comfort Ghartey: The UK-based Ghanaian nurse who brightens hospital wards with a song while serving breakfast

Hospitals are often quiet and solemn, offering tranquility for patients receiving medical care.

The environment can be stressful, with serious ailments and conditions impacting the mental health of patients.

Research from the National Library of Medicine, the world's largest biomedical library and a national resource for health professionals, scientists, and the public, states that a patient-friendly hospital environment can influence the healing process, have a direct impact on patient outcomes, reduce levels of anxiety and stress, and shorten recovery periods following surgery.

Comfort Ghartey, a UK-based Ghanaian nurse, is changing the experience at the Royal London Hospital in the UK by greeting patients with breakfast and a song each morning.

Her approach turns the typical hospital environment, which is quiet, into one that is filled with warmth.

Her infectious positivity brings comfort to patients, making each morning a highly anticipated moment on the ward.

As a ward host, Comfort has been serving breakfast each morning with a song and has been doing this for the past seven years.

In a recent interview with ITV News, Comfort said she adopted this strategy to provide support and encouragement for patients during their healing process.

"No one wants to be on the bed, so when it happens like that, they need our support and encouragement. Singing is medicine, laughter is also medicine.

"My name is Comfort, and I always ask myself why my parents gave me that name. It has a purpose. If I am Comfort, I need to comfort the patients," she noted.

Comfort's songs have become a form of therapy for patients. Her presence is infectious as it spreads positivity and laughter through the ward.

A patient at the hospital, Lily Carter, told ITV News, "When she is around, we have so much fun singing.

When she is on, we have a party with singing, and I wish I knew what she was singing; I would join in with that," she added.

Comfort's approach is making a profound impact on the patients in the wards at the Royal London Hospital.

JKB/OGB

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