A daffodil for each recovered patient: Maimonides
adorns windows with faux fl owers to spark hope
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
A couple hundred fl ower
decals have gone a long
way for Maimonides Medical
Center, where staffers
have lined the windows with
nearly 1,000 makeshift daffodils
— each representing
a recovered COVID-19 patient
who has been safely
discharged from the Borough
Park hospital, and collectively
spreading hopeful
joy to healthcare heroes.
“We were talking to our
residents about the humanistic
elements of medicine,
which is really, how do you
remember to be a human being
in the face of the stresses
of healthcare?” said Dr. Jennifer
Breznay, who helped
spearhead the effort with
her colleagues Mark Roberts
and Robin Gitman, vice president
of the hospital’s Academic
Affairs Department.
“Mark and I both thought
that the idea of really focusing
on the successes — and
on the good and the positive
— was important, even as
we face our darkest days,”
she said, stressing that the
project, which doubles as a
source of positivity for patients
and their families,
serves as a “visual sign” of
Maimonides’ success and
growth during the current
crisis.
As of Monday, 920 daffodils
composed the fi eld
of faux fl owers in the 10th
Avenue medical center’s
large, glass window display
— which Dr. Breznay compared
to a “community garden.”
The fl ower itself symbolizes
“rebirth and new
beginnings,” according to
the website TeleFlora, and is
virtually synonymous with
spring.
“It really is something
beautiful,” she told Brooklyn
Paper, adding that the Academic
Department’s hope is
that each member of Maimonides
staff gets to take part
in the project in some way.
Some discharged patients
have even been able to hang
their own daffodil, the doctor
said.
“It’s important to remember
To all the brave and selfless Nurses for being on the frontline
in this extreme time of need.
Your professionalism will never be forgotten.
And a Huge THANK YOU to all essential workers for being there.
BRONX TIMES R 38 EPORTER, MAY 8-14, 2020 BTR
that we’re in this
together,” Dr. Breznay said.
“At Maimonides, we’re all
about celebrating success
— even in light of very dark
days and sad losses. We have
to have hope for things to get
better and that’s what we’re
doing with this project.”
While Dr. Breznay is a
geriatric care and internal
medicine provider, Roberts
and Gitman work in the hospital’s
Academic Department,
which supports the
medical center’s 400-plus
residents who are still in
training.
Gitman has often encouraged
her team to come up
with creative projects like
this one — but, in times like
these, support for staff is
even more crucial, the doctor
said.
But, at the end of the day,
Dr. Breznay hopes that all
who pass the growing display
will feel a sense of “hope”
when entering or leaving
Maimonides Medical Center,
and realize that “good things
are happening here, too.”
Maimonides staffers hang daffodil decals in the medical center’s window.
Photo courtesy of Lorraine Carita
Eastwood M anor Catering
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