Child’s Play

New Play Zone at Diamond Children’s to Offer Therapeutic Space for Patients

By Tiffany Kjos

Banner-University is a stellar facility for lifesaving treatment including fetal surgery, adult and pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplants, congenital heart surgery for children, and in-patient dialysis for kids.

A new Play Zone, funded entirely by donations, will enhance the services that Diamond Children’s Medical Center at Banner already offers to young patients and their families.

“Diamond Children’s is the premier pediatric facility in the region. We do high-end medical care, and we do routine medical care – we run the gamut – and this adds another dimension to that care,” said Dr. Andreas A. Theodorou, vice chair and professor of the pediatric department for the University of Arizona, clinical leader of pediatrics for Banner, and a pediatric clinician.

The 7,200-square-foot Play Zone, with recreational, educational, and therapeutic offerings, will give the hospital’s specially trained child life specialists a place to have honest conversations with patients about their scary and often life-threatening ailments. It’s also a place for patients to get away from their hospital bed, and even take a break from their parents.

“I would not view that area as a big playground where kids go down and play – that’s not what it’s about,” Theodorou said. “The Play Zone is basically a tool by which the child life specialists can do what they’re so good at. Child life specialists can help kids, for example, deal with painful procedures. They help kids deal with issues around chronic disease. They help siblings deal with the loss of a brother or sister. They also work on grief.”

The Play Zone, designed by Shepley Bulfinch and built by DPR Construction, is the brainchild of Hadley Trull, associate director of Child Life at Diamond Children’s, who has been involved in the development of three such facilities at other hospitals. Three years ago, she was approached by the then-CEO of Banner, who set aside the former Diamond Children’s Center lobby for the project and told her to “dream big.”

“So, I shared my verbal vision, and then the architect and the interior designers brought it to life, and that’s when the fundraising started,” Trull said. “We had some design meetings to say, ‘We want this to be an uplifting, positive, bright space that does not feel like you’re in the hospital.’”

And it definitely doesn’t. A 70-foot mural is a focal point of the Play Zone, which was created to appeal to ages birth to age 21. Patients will enter through a locked door for safety reasons, then head to whatever draws them, from a spot with stuffed animals and other toys for preschoolers and toddlers to a virtual reality and video gaming area for older kids.

The Play Zone also features an art studio, a sensory room for children with special needs, a “medical play area” with pretend equipment so child life specialists can demonstrate how procedures will go, a basketball arcade, and a media room. There’s also a space with computers where children can attend school virtually and engage in STEM activities.

The Play Zone will allow the child life specialists to serve up to 40% more patients and their siblings. It is a “very intentional, therapeutic place, with multiple levels of support, even to the point of very difficult conversations,” Trull said.

Another feature of the Play Zone is the Ronald McDonald Sibling Center, funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Arizona, where patients’ sisters and brothers can go when their parents are visiting the patient.

Aside from that, the $3.6 million project was paid for by philanthropic efforts from the community here, Trull said. The work that child life specialists do is not billable by insurance, she explained, so a lot of their resources and some of their salaries are paid for through donations. 

The fundraising for this pivotal project was led by Jeremy Sharpe, a respected developer and member of the Banner Health Foundation Board, who said, “It’s a wonderful project that will be incredibly impactful for the local community. Banner has such a far reach that kids all over the region will be able to experience it.”

Sharpe raised the money through dinners and other events, and many one-on-one conversations. In the end, more than 200 private and corporate donors gave from $25 to $100,000, but fundraising for the child life program is ongoing. 

Pictured above – Jeremy Sharpe, Developer & Member, Banner Health Foundation Board.