When you’re sick and in the hospital, especially for a long time, there’s nothing that could cheer you up more than a shave and a haircut.
Students at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School thought so too, and started a service for patients at University Hospital in Newark called Bergen Barbers. (The hospital is on Bergen Street.)
Shivani Srivastava, one of the barbers, said this made all the difference to one of the patients.
“He spoke Spanish and so we couldn’t communicate with him directly,” she said, “but once we started the shave and haircut he started playing jazz music and closed his eyes. Our service was clearly a source of comfort for him and allowed him to step outside of just lhaving an illness and being in the hospital.”
Another barber, Ivan Loncar, said a patient who couldn’t speak because of his condition still found a way to say thank you.
“You could see how deeply happy he was after, and he couldn’t communicate that verbally he was just giving us the thumbs up and kind of trying to smile and almost like overexerting himself trying to express that,” said Loncar.
The nursing staff selects the patients, making sure they don’t have a traumatic brain injury or any medical device in the head or face that might be an obstacle.
Srivastava said the grooming has prevented some patients from checking out of the hospital against doctors’ advice.
Hetal Lad, who also takes scissors and razor in hand, said the service is especially important at this hospital.
“We have a lot of patients who don’t have insurance, or they might have trouble with housing, or they need social support, and so that leads them to stay longer in the hospital,” making the grooming even more special.
The team is planning fundraisers to add more products, like nail polish and aftershave. They also want to get mannequins to practice on.