Hospital Words Warm-Up

The Robot in Room Seven

Maya loved the movie Big Hero 6, especially Baymax, the soft robot who asked, “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” For the school science fair, Maya and her best friend Leo built a small health robot from a lunch box, two toy wheels, and a phone speaker. They named it Beanmax. On Friday afternoon, they carried Beanmax into St. Mark’s Hospital for a teen volunteer day. The air smelled of soap and lemon cleaner, and shoes squeaked on the shiny floor. At the reception desk, Maya said, “We have an appointment with Nurse Green.” Beanmax rolled forward and said in a tiny voice, “Hello. Please wash your hands.” A tired boy with a cough laughed so hard that his mother dropped a packet of tissues.

Nurse Green led them to the children’s waiting area. Maya wanted Beanmax to cheer up the patients, so she pressed the blue button. Because Leo had changed the sound settings that morning, Beanmax shouted, “Emergency dance mode!” and bumped into a poster of the human heart. Leo jumped to catch it, but the metal edge of the robot cut his finger. A red drop landed on his white sneaker. “I’m fine,” Leo said, but his face went pale. “You look dizzy,” Maya whispered. Nurse Green took him to the emergency room. The lights buzzed above the bed while the nurse cleaned the cut with cold water. “You should sit still,” she told Leo. “And you shouldn’t look at your hand if blood makes you nervous.”

While the doctor checked Leo, a little girl named Nia began to cry near the door. She had a high temperature and was afraid of the thermometer. Maya picked up Beanmax and made its speaker soft. “Hello, Nia,” the robot said. “I am not scary. I am mostly lunch box.” Nia touched its smooth plastic head and giggled. The doctor looked at Leo’s finger and said, “No x-ray today. Just a bandage, rest, and clean hands.” Leo held up his wrapped finger like a tiny flag. Then he looked at Maya. “Beanmax caused one patient and helped one patient. That’s a draw.” Maya smiled and changed the button label from Emergency Dance to Calm Helper. As they left, Beanmax rolled beside a wheelchair and whispered, “Please wash your hands,” while Nia waved a yellow sticker from Room Seven.

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