High tech game helps hospitalized children heal

LOS ANGELES, California (Ivanhoe Newswire)

A hospital can be an overwhelming place, especially when you are a child. This often leads to fear or stress, which slows healing. Experts say that gambling is what helps. A large children's hospital in California is listening and has created a high-tech interactive space where a child can become a child.

Avalynn Wallace has found a refuge in the hospital, far from the constant swirl of doctors, chemotherapy and cancer.

"It's fun and it makes me leave the room," said Avalynn.

"It" is a new interactive center. It has everything from a corner of history with a contactless digital wall and a broadcast studio.

Brianna Chambers of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Stanford explained, "It's a place where a child can only be a child. It is a zone without medical care. We have the chance to play games, to sing, to dance and to interact in a really fun way. "

Nicole Wallace, Avalynn's mother, told Ivanhoe, "We are not confined to a 10X10 room. Whether we are here for a day or for months. "

Patients like Avalynn, whose immune system is compromised, can play without fear in the contactless environment of the center.

"It can really meet the needs of all kinds of patients," Chambers said.

Louis Wallace Jr., Avalynn's father, said, "She is connected to her IVs and you know they are disconnected for a few hours a day. It's good that they let us out. She will have a break. "

Patients who need to stay in their rooms can still be connected to the action through the broadcast studio offered by former 49-year-old American football player Steve Young and his wife Barb.

"It really helps them feel completely involved," Chambers told Ivanhoe.

But for Avalynn and his family, it's the music that makes the biggest difference. We know that music can reduce stress and pain in patients. But for the Wallace family, it's also a chance to link to a song that became their personal anthem: "Fight Song".

Steve Young and his wife have presented their music therapy studios at several hospitals across the country, including Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Mesa. However, the only broadcasting service they have given so far is at Stanford's Children's Hospital Lucile Packard.

Contributors to this story include: Wendy Chioji, Field Producer; Roque Correa, publisher; Rusty Reed, videographer.