Coronavirus: Miami Valley Hospital nurse helps health care workers show smiles

DAYTON — Instead of wearing their hearts on their sleeves, health care providers at Miami Valley Hospital are wearing their smiles on their scrubs.

“I was trying to think of something that we could do to help boost morale, not only for patients, but for our staff and co-workers,” said Lorna Stringfield, a Miami Valley Hospital nurse.

She snapped a selfie, laminated it, and made it into a wearable badge. This way, her co-workers and patients could see what she looked like even when she was wearing a mask.

“If you look up and you’re in an unfamiliar environment and the first thing that you see is this face smiling back at you, it’s going to put a smile on your face, or if you’re not able to smile it’s going to make you feel a little bit better,” Stringfield said.

Wednesday night, she asked her co-workers if they wanted one. Since then, she has made 50 badges and has another 25 in the works.

This is something she hopes will help fellow staff members and their patients.

“Maybe if they can just see a smile and a face that’s behind the mask, that would make a difference,” Stringfield said.

Stringfield said the “My Smile Behind My Mask” initiative is already making a difference at the hospital for the caretakers and those for whom they are providing case.

“I’ve actually had a lot of feedback. I went in several patient rooms yesterday and the patients would say ‘oh my gosh, I love that,’ ” Stringfield said.

She plans to continue making the badges for co-workers.

Cox Media Group