The Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is opening a new state-of-the-art sibling care room called Playroom of Hope. It was made possible through fundraising efforts of the Wallace family, whose daughter Nevaeh Wallace received care at the Children’s Hospital before dying from a severe heart defect.
A private ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled to take place Thursday, Sept. 17, at 3:30 p.m. on the hospital’s second floor.
Playroom of Hope was designed with input from the hospital’s child life and expressive therapies team. These teams work within the hospital to help children and teens cope with their hospital stay by normalizing the experience through play, socialization, preparation and support during medical procedures and by creating a safe and healing environment to promote self-expression and provide emotional support.
The new 1,100-square-foot sibling care space features a smart board that children can draw on and then print or download their creations to share with their sibling, as well as several reading nooks and a quiet room.
It will also house the hospital’s expressive therapies team, which offers art and music therapy for patients and siblings throughout the hospital and as part of a bridge program with Ronald Mc Donald House Charities, which has a location across the street from Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
The sibling care program is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. More than 660 siblings have utilized the program so far in 2015.
Programming will be available in the new space beginning Sept. 21.
