Warm Porridge on Laba Festival Day — Warming the Heart: Sending Best Wishes to Inpatients
“Little ones, little ones, don’t be greedy for food. After Laba Festival comes the Lunar New Year.” Laba Festival marks the opening of a warm and festive New Year season, carrying wishes for reunion, peace, and health. In the early morning of January 26, steaming bowls of Laba porridge, prepared with great care and meticulous effort, were personally delivered to patient rooms by doctors and nurses. This small holiday gift was intended to send a warm greeting and a touch of human warmth in the cold winter days to patients receiving treatment and to the family members caring for them day and night.
In the patient rooms, the fragrance of the porridge filled the space, making the atmosphere even cozier. The doctors and nurses gently checked in on patients and personally handed them the bowls of porridge. “Ma’am, today is Laba Festival. Please have some porridge to warm your stomach, and I wish you a speedy recovery!” “Sir, be careful—it’s hot. We’ll be here to celebrate the festival with you.” …and so on. These simple conversations and sincere, honest smiles made warmth spread throughout the patient wards.
For inpatients, the journey of fighting illness requires tremendous courage and perseverance. They not only need professional medical care, but also emotional comfort and encouragement from others. This modest bowl of Laba porridge is where we place our heartfelt concern for patients, hoping that through these small gestures of warmth, we can accompany and support them throughout treatment.
It is a form of companionship that “warms the heart”: during traditional festive occasions, helping patients feel the warmth of care and easing the loneliness of hospital stay.
It is a form of care that “warms the stomach”: guided by patients’ nutritional needs and actual health conditions, we pay special attention to selecting and combining ingredients when preparing Laba porridge, ensuring that the porridge is soft, easy to digest, and conveying meticulous, thoughtful care for health. It is also a message of “warmth” filled with confidence: through this small yet heartfelt act, we want to send every patient a message that during your hospital stay, you are never alone. We are determined to do everything we can, providing both medical support and emotional companionship and uplift.
This activity also gave the doctors and nurses an opportunity to share warm interactions with patients amid their demanding work. Seeing the smiles of patients and their family members made us appreciate even more deeply the meaning of the saying: “Sometimes cure, often help, always comfort and encourage.”
Laba porridge symbolizes good fortune, health, and fulfillment. We use porridge to convey our feelings—our “thoughtful” care and our wish for a “speedy” recovery. May the warmth of this festive day accompany everyone through the cold winter, so that together we may welcome a vibrant spring ahead.
