Creative Arts Projects fund artist-in-residence programs, support music and art therapy programs, and horticulture therapy. These therapy programs are proven to greatly soothe and reduce patient anxiety, increase patient cooperation with medical procedures, and provide arts education for pediatric patients.

Technology programs include inpatient gaming & entertainment systems, tablets for distraction and education, advanced recording technology for music therapy, intra-hospital patient-to-patient TV programming, and mobile treatment units that can travel room to room to soothe and entertain non-mobile patients while undergoing difficult treatments.

Hospital Admission & Comfort Kits are individualized activity packs given to pediatric patients upon arrival to the Emergency Department. These packs prevent boredom during wait times, provide distraction during tests, and can alleviate the anxieties accompanying an emergency trip to the hospital.

Our Bear Program provides comfort in a clinical setting by providing hospitalized children with a warm, cuddly companion to help them through their stay. That Bear becomes a hand to hold while being examined by a doctor and a teaching tool that takes the anxiety out of a procedure.

Loaded with games and applications, our Tablets provide distraction in the hospital environment. While Angry Birds seems to be a favorite, games such as Simply Sayin’, The Human Body, and Re-Mission 2 allow patients to also learn about their diagnosis and procedures, which Child Life Specialists site as a critical resource in learning to cope with their illness.

Outpatient and Recreational Activities, which range from hospital parties to day trips, provide distractions from the stress of treatments and hospital stays and give pediatric patients opportunities to interact with other children. The experiences encourage mobility and independence, and pediatric patients return with increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and motivation to live fuller, more active lives. Additionally, the hospital experience becomes less scary as the patients are shown that the hospital is not always associated with procedures or pain.

Equipment and Supplies can include a wide variety of requests from our hospital partners, from new child-friendly exam tables to onesies to help raise awareness for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Each request helps to improve the hospital setting for both the pediatric patient and their family, while also improving the lives of the hospital staff as well. Many times, the equipment is needed to help increase the number of patients a hospital can see.