Hospital develops 'hugging curtain' for sick children to touch loved ones

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A girl in a wheelchair at the San Raffaele hospital in Rome, interacts with her visiting mother through a plastic protection to avoid catching the COVID-19 on December 22, 2020. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)

NEW YORK - A hospital in Rome has come up with a unique solution to allow families to have personal contact with children who are patients while also minimizing the risk of them catching the coronavirus.  (SEE MORE PHOTOS BELOW)

It's called a hugging curtain.  The children are on one side and the family members are on the other side.  There are armholes so that the family members can wrap their arms around the young patients.

"The kids wrote in their letters to Santa that their biggest wish was to be able to hug again their brothers, sisters, mothers, or grandmothers," one of the hospital workers told the AFP news agency.

So doctors and nurses at the San Raffaele rehabilitation hospital came up with the Gugging curtain.  They said that the tent allows the transmission of human warmth.  The children feel the body heat of their loved ones, making the visit special.

A girl in a wheelchair hospitalizedat the San Raffaele hospital in Rome, hugs her visiting father through a plastic protection to avoid catching the COVID-19 on December 22, 2020. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)

A boy hospitalized at the San Raffaele hospital in Rome, prepares to hug his mother through a plastic protection to avoid catching the COVID-19 on December 22, 2020. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)

A boy hospitalized in the San Raffaele hospital in Rome, hugs his father through a plastic protection to avoid catching the COVID-19 on December 22, 2020. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)