Press release
From Mission Health:
Children receiving care at Mission Children’s Hospital will experience the healing power of play thanks to a grant awarded to the hospital by the Mattel Children’s Foundation in conjunction with the Children’s Hospital Association.
The $19,000 grant, just one of 11 awarded across the country through the Mattel Play Grants program, will allow Mission Children’s Hospital to purchase several Imagination Playground systems. This specially designed equipment allows children to play with the playground’s unconventional collection of large, loose pieces, creating a special relaxed environment for both recreation and healing. The play experience will be available to patients on both the inpatient pediatric and inpatient child psychiatric units. Delivery of the playgrounds is expected within a month.
“This grant will allow us to bring play to those who need it most,” said Susan Mims, MD, MPH, Vice President and Medical Director, Mission Children’s Hospital. “Children in the hospital can feel powerless. This type of play can help them build a sense of control when they are able to use their imagination to create. The Imagination Playground will help ease the anxieties and improve the experience of hospitalization for children and their families.”
The Mattel Play Grants program builds on the success of a nine-year partnership between the Children’s Hospital Association and the Mattel Children’s Foundation that has delivered a half million toys to pediatric patients at children’s hospitals, helping create positive healing environments nationwide.
About Mission Children’s Hospital
Mission Children’s Hospital is the only children’s hospital in western North Carolina. Located in Asheville, N.C., its services include pediatric and adolescent specialty care, neonatal and pediatric intensive care, and pediatric and adolescent psychiatric care. Mission Children’s Hospital has 130 beds, averages 3,000 patient admissions to its pediatric inpatient units, 4,500 outpatient pediatric surgeries and nearly 14,000 pediatric emergency department visits annually. Each year, approximately 700 ill and premature newborns receive life-saving care in its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Mission Children’s Hospital is a member of Mission Health, which has been named one of the nation’s Top 15 Health Systems in 2012 and 2013 by Thomson Reuters and Truven Health Analytics, respectively. For more information, visit missionchildrens.org.
About Mission Health
Mission Health, based in Asheville, N.C., is the state’s sixth-largest health system and the region’s only not-for-profit, independent community hospital system governed and managed exclusively in western North Carolina. Mission Health was recognized as one of the nation’s Top 15 Health Systems in 2012 and 2013 by Thomson Reuters and Truven Health Analytics, respectively. Mission Health is one of only two medium-sized health systems to receive this recognition in 2012 and 2013, and the only health system in North Carolina to achieve that distinction.
Mission Health, which traces its roots in the region back to 1885, operates six hospitals, numerous outpatient and surgery centers, post-acute care provider CarePartners, and the region’s only dedicated Level II trauma center. Its medical staff consists of more than 1,000 physicians and is certified in more than 50 medical specialties and sub-specialties. Mission Health has seven Centers of Excellence: Cancer, Heart, Mission Children’s Hospital, Neurosciences, Orthopedics, Trauma and Women’s Health. Mission Hospital, located in Asheville, is the system’s flagship hospital and is licensed for 795 beds. It is the regional referral center for tertiary and quaternary care. It also includes Mission Children’s Hospital – the region’s only children’s hospital. Other Mission Health member hospitals include Angel Medical Center in Franklin, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine, Highlands-Cashiers Hospital in Highlands, McDowell Hospital in Marion and Transylvania Regional Hospital in Brevard. With approximately 10,600 employees and 2,000 volunteers, Mission Health is dedicated to improving the health and wellness of the people of western North Carolina. For more information, please visit mission-health.org.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.