ANMC Inpatient Pediatrics adds entertainment options for kids
August 27, 2018
Being in the hospital is no fun, especially if you are a child. In order to make our youngest patients’ hospital stay as comfortable and pleasant as it can be, ANMC Inpatient Pediatrics, through the generosity of donors to the Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation (HANF), were able to install entertainment consoles in each inpatient room. The PlayStation 3 consoles are preloaded with child-appropriate games and movies to suit the needs of our inpatient children.
“Minecraft is one of the really popular games I see our inpatient kids playing a lot,” said Joanna Davis, ANMC Child Life Specialist. “Our patients, their parents and nurses are all raving about these entertainment consoles. There are sports games, puzzle games, all kinds of movies and cartoons — something for everyone.”
Davis requested the funding of these entertainment consoles from HANF because often there was nothing appropriate on the inpatient TV programming for children to watch.
“We had a little girl who was about three years old staying in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She was really sick and all she wanted to do was watch some cartoons. We flipped through the channels and there were no cartoons on for her to watch. It really broke my heart that she couldn’t do the one thing she wanted to do while lying in her hospital bed,” said Davis.
It cost $13,000 to outfit all Inpatient Pediatrics rooms with these entertainment consoles. Hundreds of donors at the Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation and donations made by Inpatient Pediatrics staff to the Child Life Fund made this possible.
Another recent entertainment addition to Inpatient Pediatrics is the Wii U Fun Center, a mobile entertainment unit powered by a Nintendo gaming console. This was generously donated by the Starlight Children’s Foundation to HANF. It rolls bedside – or almost anywhere – to provide physical therapy activities, distractive entertainment or just some must-needed play time during a child’s healing process.
This incredible partnership with the Starlight Children’s Foundation also generously supplies the Inpatient Pediatric hospital gowns & red Radio Flyer wagons. Starlight ‘Brave’ Gowns make kids feel like superstars by replacing the standard hospital garments with high-quality, comfortable and brightly colored gowns that transform children into astronauts, princesses, cowboys, and other characters while being transported via red wagons so they can have fun and enjoy being kids.
These purchases are only made possible by individuals donating to the Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation. Tools and toys are essential to the Child Life program from bubbles to puzzles to iPad games and more. Child Life supplies help our youngest patients engage in self-expression and therapeutic play and help create a much less stressful hospital environment. If you are interested in supporting the Child Life Program please visit https://inspiringgoodhealth.org/child-life-program/ to learn more. The kids need your support!