Ithaca: A hospital stay, long or short, can be one of life's most difficult, trying and boring experiences. Candace Cima is trying to make that stay a bit more enjoyable for patients of Cayuga Medical Center.

Small Comforts Foundation Ltd., headed by Cima, is currently raising funds for the Alex Cima VCR Program at Cayuga Medical Center. The VCR Program will provide 13-inch TV/VCR sets, as well as educational and entertainment videos to CMC to wheel in an out of patient rooms.

So far, 14 sets have been delivered and rewired to meet electrical safety requirements for the hospital. Today, 100 tapes will be delivered reading for viewing. The sets are currently assigned to seven inpatient units at CMC, with the plan in mind to expand the number units with available sets.

Named for her husband, Alex, the mission of the foundation is to fund and administer programs that improve the quality of life and or raise the morale of people living with chronic illness or other medical problems.

Cima's motivation stems from years of attempts to relieve her husband's mental suffering during long hospital stays while he battles kidney dialysis treatment. Because she has stayed by her husband's bedside over the course of many years, Cima said she has been introduced to the world in which the chronically ill live. "At times, their whole world becomes the hospital room, and there are times when any escape, even momentary, is the only relief from the constant agony of the next test or procedure," she said.

Patients or their family members can request and sign out the TV/VCR set and select from their choice of videos to watch. Information about the program will be available in patient information packages.

Though entertainment is Cima's number one priority, the TV/VCR sets will provide an educational component for patients who watch informational videos on their illness, surgeries, and other related procedures. "Since CMC does not have a medical information channel for patients to watch, this is a great way to extend the work of the physicians even without them there," she said.

CMC has embraced and facilitated the efforts of Small Comforts, providing the groundwork for a well-working partnership. Marcia Eger, Community Relations Director for CMC, said, "The generosity of Small Comforts is absolutely tremendous, and their empathy is outstanding, especially because their program arose from their own experiences with hospital stays."  The program's VCR use is free to patients.