The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese cultural festival. As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou will organize a series of conventional Dragon Boat Festival activities to celebrate the festival with international patients and enhance their understanding of Chinese culture. These unique activities aim to provide comfort to patients and help them integrate into the hospital community, adapt to life abroad for treatment, and improve their treatment experience.

On the afternoon of June 7, 2024, the first activity of the Dragon Boat Festival, organized by St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou for its patients, officially commenced. Patients gathered in the conference room to enjoy the festival. Present at the event were Mr. He Langbing, Director of International Affairs Department, Ms. Liu Yansheng, Assistant Director, Mr. Qiu Chang, Director of Network Department, and Ms. Zhou Xiaoping, Director of Customer Service Department. They all came together with the patients to experience the Dragon Boat Festival culture.

Explore the culture and customs of the Dragon Boat Festival

At the activity site, which was rich in ancient features and had a lively festive atmosphere, the staff prepared a brief video about the Dragon Boat Festival to help international patients better understand its cultural significance. The video introduced the festival's timing, origin, customs, and more.

Leader delivered a speech and extended Dragon Boat festival blessings

Director Langbing He delivered a speech

He Langbing, the Director of the International Affairs Department of the hospital, took the stage to deliver a speech. During his address, he emphasized the importance of "gratitude" and "struggle" for all the patients in the audience. He expressed that "gratitude" represents being thankful for the patient's trust in the hospital and the opportunity to help, while "struggle" signifies doing everything possible to overcome the disease. Many successful cases at St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou have proven that one can achieve better physical recovery through persistent struggle. Director He Langbing also extended his holiday wishes to all patients, hoping that participating in activities such as making Zongzi and watching dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival would make their treatment process more comfortable. Finally, he wished everyone a speedy recovery.

Diverse and exciting activities

The Dragon Boat Festival activities were diverse, featuring dance, Guzheng performances, poetry recitation, quizzes with prizes, and more. Employees, who typically work hard in their roles, showcased their hidden talents during this event.

Passionate Xinjiang dance

Recite poems about Dragon Boat Festival

Melodious Guzheng

Beautiful classical dance

The lively atmosphere of the live quiz

The Passionate Zongzi making competition

During the last part of the activity, the patients from the four international wards of the hospital formed four teams to make Zongzi. Each team was led by nurses from their respective floors. The teams were named: "Zongzi Being Different", "Zongzi Connecting the World", "Zongzi Sharing the Health", and "Zongzi Enjoying Dragon Boat Festival". When the competition began, the teams rushed to secure favorable positions and raced against time to learn and make Zongzi simultaneously.

Passionate and exciting zongzi making competition

On the same day, members of the Ho Chi Minh City Medical Media Group who had visited the hospital also came to the scene to celebrate with the patients. After the zongzi-making competition ended, they were invited to serve as judges to select the first, second, and third prize.

On-site evaluation

First prize

Second prize

Third prize

We concluded the Dragon Boat Festival event with cheers from the crowd. Festival celebrations are part of the value-added services offered at St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou. We not only celebrate the major festivals of our patients' home countries, but also focus on promoting traditional culture, allowing international patients to experience the customs and sentiments of various Chinese traditional festivals. Our goal is for patients to experience our humanistic care in every value-added service, approach treatment with a more relaxed attitude, and achieve better treatment outcomes.

*Surgery, in addition to the appropriate chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are effective in treating early cancer, but certain patients in late stage of cancer may not be tolerate surgery well as they can be relatively weak. A combination of carefully planned minimally invasive therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy can effectively reduce the side effects and discomfort of treatment and may help patient get better efficacy.