June 2006
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Playground gives kids a chance to be kids again
From left, Steven Karp, Isabelle Labbe and Michael Wedge at the playground opening.
A hospital stay can be a frightening experience. But a new handicapped-accessible playground—made possible by a $150,000 grant from BJ's Charitable Foundation, with additional funding from the Louise Crane Foundation—may make stays a bit easier for kids like Isabelle Labbe.
Four-year-old Isabelle and her mother, Wendy, recently joined Children's Hospital Boston and BJ's leadership at the playground dedication ceremony. An inpatient for three months, Isabelle was transferred to Children's in January when doctors near her hometown couldn't diagnose her condition. At Children's, tests revealed Isabelle had a rare form of vasculitis called Polyarteritis Nodosa, an autoimmune disease that affects the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood to organs and tissues. For Isabelle, it meant an emergency operation to remove two-thirds of her small intestine. ¬Ý
"Children's has done everything possible to make this an enjoyable experience for our family—from providing emotional support to engaging our daughter in activities that allow her to feel like a kid and take her mind off her medical condition," Wendy says.
A playground can do just that. The colorful new addition of ladders, stairs, climbers, monkey bars and slides also can be used to evaluate patients' balance and coordination. It can also aid in play therapy, a hallmark of psychiatric services.
"The new playground is a welcome tool to advance Children's healing mission," says Cynthia Levin, director of the Center for Families. "Play is the way kids experience the world. Deciding where and what to play gives children a sense of power—which is all the more critical when kids are confined to both long and short hospital stays."
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