ST. LOUIS - Virtual reality just became reality for patients in the emergency room at Mercy Children’s Hospital St. Louis thanks to a donation from Starlight Children’s Foundation. The group donated a VR headset to Mercy’s Child Life department to be used as tool in the ER to distract kids from procedures, help to provide calming activities as kids wait for test results and more.
“This is such an incredible gift and will help many patients and families during an ER visit, often a traumatic and scary time,” said Ali Stewart, child life specialist with Mercy Children’s Hospital. “Our hope is to expand and offer this technology to kids in all areas of the hospital.”
Kids can choose anything from games for fun and entertainment to relaxing scenes or guided imagery.
Starlight Children’s Foundation provided a special mobile entertainment center to the pediatrics department in 2013.
