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Inpatients get wired to surf

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hen a childhood is interrupted by illness, children and parents needing to spend time in the hospital put their lives on hold. Recognizing the importance to patients and families of staying connected with life outside the hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston last month launched the first phase of a project that gives high-speed Internet access to every in-patient in the main hospital. Patients can now stay in touch easily with teachers, family members and friends during their stay, while parents have the ability to connect to work or relatives.

“There was an overwhelming amount of support for this project from both the patients and the hospital staff,” says Daniel Nigrin, MD, MS, chief information officer. “More and more homes have high-speed Internet access and we felt that the best way for us to maintain these standards for our patients and families was to provide them with the same service here at the hospital. We’re excited about the service.”

And so are patients and families. For 11-year-old Ricky Delgado, being able to easily get on the Internet has made the time pass quickly during his stay at Children’s. “I’ve been playing computer games with people from all over the country,” he says. “I also did some research for school, and have been keeping in touch with other patients in the hospital as well as my dad, who lives in another country.”

Patients who provide their own laptop computer will now have the ability to connect to the Internet free-of-charge. For families unable to provide their own personal computer, Internet services are still available: parents can visit the Center for Families, while patients can use computers located in the resource or activity room located on each inpatient unit of the main hospital. The safety of the network is ensured by a newly installed content filtering system.

And now Ricky does not have to stop playing computer games to use the telephone. “I can use the computer and call down to order food at the same time,” he says. “The new connection is just really fast and convenient.”

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