Play is a child’s work! We want to provide a safe outdoor area to encourage play and help patients meet the physical and emotional challenges of a cancer diagnosis in an environment as close as possible to normal life. The outdoors helps reduce anxiety and supports physical development for patients. Considering social, emotional and physical needs we offer a range of therapies that teach coping skills, reduce anxiety, support physical development ensuring patients reach their full potential.
Play is a child’s work! We want to provide a safe outdoor area to encourage play and help patients meet the physical and emotional challenges of a cancer diagnosis in an environment as close as possible to normal life. The outdoors helps reduce anxiety and supports physical development for patients. Considering social, emotional and physical needs we offer a range of therapies that teach coping skills, reduce anxiety, support physical development ensuring patients reach their full potential.
The Play Area Project
Understanding that “children are not small adults”, we pay the utmost attention to the social, emotional and safety needs of children dealing with a cancer diagnosis and their families. The project to equip our outdoor play area will be a tool to ensure our young patients receive the best possible care in a safe and secure environment while helping them meet the physical and emotional challenges of a cancer diagnosis in an environment as close as possible to normal life. Our goal is to create a safe, appropriate outdoor play area for kids and siblings that encourages physical movement reduces fear and anxiety and a space that’s fun. The existing area is a cement jungle and in dealing with kids, they want to jump, climb and potentially fall which is unsafe. The new play area will assure the safety of our kids while providing a sense of community where parents and children can support one another. Families who spend long hours at the clinic appreciate having a retreat and an alternative to “screen” time. The objective is taking existing outdoor space and maximize its full potential as a place that honors kids and allows them to find joy. We must create a safe, appropriate space where kids receiving treatment can be kids and reach their full potential.
What We Will Provide for Families
• Fresh air and a place to get away from long hours in the chemo suite, make the outdoors an ideal space for relaxing. It is an extension of our clinic and provides an important outdoor healing element that is safe, inviting and encourages movement needed for our patients as well as for their families. The custom designed, industry leading, rubber safety surface meets national safety standard objectives for outdoor play areas and is conducive to young patients with IV poles or those in wheelchairs. This also addresses the natural urges of kids with compromised health conditions who want to run, jump, and climb outdoors.
• Parents who are dealing with a child’s long term illness also need a support system to help them with the daily challenges they face when caring for a sick child. The outdoor space creates a sense of community where parents and children are able to support one another and is powerful and healing for both patient and families.
• We now know that movement is important in the healing process and want to provide a space that allows more than just a sitting area in its current state. The years of patching and repairing the surface has caused it to be uneven and is difficult for children to navigate. Removing the current unsafe barriers will allow for a more conducive space for play and staff can remove the many rules they implemented to keep the patients safe. The colorful foam animals also meet the national safety standard objectives and are constructed with antibacterial surfaces making them easy to clean. The space is free from medical procedures and the stress of being in a clinic setting. It’s an outdoor healing element that is safe, inviting, and much needed for patients and families.
• When spending long hours in the clinic, a common release for patients and families is to look to the “screen” as a distraction to the treatment kids are undergoing. When the play area is available, kids will put down their electronics, turn off the TV and choose to be in the outdoors and enjoy the fresh air. Families who spend many difficult hours at the clinic will appreciate having an element of retreat and a healthy alternative to existing indoor activities.