MEDIATHON: In The Hospital Kids Are Still Kids & Want To Play

Every single day the pediatric units of our hospitals are full or close to full with sick children.  No child wants to be cooped up in a hospital room.

Just think about when your kids are sick and running fever, if they are anything like mine, they are still bouncing off the walls.  They still want to be entertained, whether it's a tablet, a movie or even video games.

Kids are still kids even though they are sick.

One of the things the Children's Miracle Network provides for our hospitals is gaming systems like Playstation, Xbox, and Wii. Keep in mind these are gaming systems that go into a hospital environment, so they are special systems. We can just run to Walmart or Best Buy, or even online and buy them. They have to be special systems designed for a hospital environment. Plus they have to be mobile so they can be moved from room to room.

This year we will be shopping for new systems because the current systems are becoming out of date and games are harder and harder to find.

You may ask, why does CMN provide gaming systems, can't the hospital buy those, well no. Most of the time hospitals don't budget for these kinds of items. CMN funds this type of project because it improves the health care of the child.  It affects their mental being when they can still be a kid and have some sort of fun while in the hospital.  The more positive you can make a hospital stay the quicker the child can get better. So that's why they fund these projects.