LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville hospital is receiving a "play grant" to purchase toys and products that will help make kids of all cultures feel more comfortable.
The Children's Hospital Association and The Toy Foundation awarded Norton Children's Hospital $15,000 to incorporate the healing power of play into medicine.
Heather C. Stohr, Norton Healthcare manager, said the hospital is honored to be chosen to receive this grant.
“While we understand hospitals can elicit feelings of anxiety and apprehension in children, we hope the toys and activities made possible through this grant will help put all of our patients and their families at ease during some of the most stressful points in their lives,” Stohr said.
Norton Children’s Hospital plans to use the $15,000 grant on the following items:
- Multicultural toys for patients from diverse backgrounds. These will include toys with differing skin tones, shapes, sizes, abilities and health care needs, as well as wooden toys for Amish patients and multilingual toys.
- Books written in Spanish, French, Burmese, Arabic and Swahili. These books will be made available for leisure and as medically informative resources.
- Multicultural and linguistically diverse distraction materials that offer support during invasive and potentially painful medical procedures.
- Multicultural hair products.
- Adhesive bandages of various skin tones.
- Handheld massagers, neck soothing pillows, tempera paint sticks and handheld sensory toys to help encourage connections between mind and body for pediatric medical, surgical and oncology patients.
This grant was designed to improve pediatric care and strengthen the social, emotional, physical and educational development of children, particularly those from underserved communities, according to Norton Children's.
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