The hospital can be a scary place for kids. Beaumont Hopsital in Royal Oak has renovated their pediatric emergency center.
Dr. Kelly Levasseur said,“Our theme is ‘animals in the wild.'"
You are first greeted by “Beau” the bear before you walk into an area filled with art work, decals and calming colors. The center has 16 beds, rooms double the size of the previous center.
Each room has pictures of animals donated by the Detroit Zoo.
“Attached to every picture is a fun fact about that animal," Levasseur said.
They have a slushee machine for kids to enjoy or nurses can use it to mix medicine in.
Doctors say it’s important to have staff solely dedicated to caring for children, including a child life specialist who supports patients like a buddy during their visit.
Caroline Wall is one of the certified Child Life Specialists on-hand.
“Just to normalize the environment, kids learn and are comfortable with playing. We provide some coloring, got some toys,” she said.
Another cool feature is animal-shaped frames where patients can create their own artwork and they’ll frame it and put it up for about a week or two.
Dr. Kelly Levasseur said,“Put their sticker on the back so we can mail it back to them once we change out the pictures.”
They also offer a pantry that will have food stocked for families.
She added, “A state of the art pediatric emergency center that is really based around the comfort of the families and the patients.”
The center opens Monday.
