News release from Parkview Hospital:
Parkview and Erin’s House partner to create mock hospital room
The room will help children work through grief and fear
(September 7, 2011) – Parkview Hospital and Erin’s House today unveiled a new mock hospital room, known as the Parkview Hospital Room, which gives children a chance to work through their grief and fear of hospitals through play and role-playing.
Erin’s House is only the third children’s and teen’s grieving center in the country and the only one in the Midwest to have this type of hospital room programming.
The Parkview Hospital Room is designed to look like an authentic (if somewhat child-size) hospital room, complete with hospital bed, scrubs, and miscellaneous tools and supplies commonly found in a hospital room.
Dealing with death as a child is hard enough, without adding a strange and new environment. Children may learn to fear hospitals and that any person being admitted to a hospital will die. Sights, smells and sounds all are foreign to a child visiting their loved one in the hospital.
Activities in the Parkview Hospital Room will focus on child-directed play and role-play if they desire. The facilitators, like in all activities, let the children take the lead and direct the play. The child chooses the Hospital Room role (i.e. patient, doctor or nurse), diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and instruments or props used.
“We are so pleased to be able to offer this new service at our facility,” said Debbie Meyer, executive director, Erin’s House for Grieving Children. “We strive to find new ways to reach those in need in our community. The new mock hospital room is a great addition and will be a tremendous benefit for children and families.”
“Erin’s House provides excellent services for our community, and Parkview is happy to be part of a project that will make a positive difference,” said Ann Lantz, director of chaplaincy services, Parkview Hospital. “We hope that the mock hospital room will help children when they visit our hospital as a patient or to see a loved one.”
Erin’s House was founded in 1993 in honor of all grieving children and their families. The idea for Erin’s House was created when an a 5-year old Fort Wayne girl named Erin Farragh died unexpectedly in 1989; the subsequent grief her surviving brother and sister experienced inspired the adults in their lives to take this idea and grow it into what it is today; Erin’s House for Grieving Children, a safe place for healing. For more information about Erin’s House, please call (260) 423-2466.
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