Contributed photo Heather Epps, a nurse on Scotland Memorial’s Three East Wing, delivers the Starlight Fun Centre to a patient’s room.

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Scotland Memorial Hospital has added a kiosk for its pediatric patients that is both fun and entertaining, officials say.

Lisa Bender, assistant director of the pediatric unit, said the Starlight Fun Centres are bedside mobile entertainment units loaded with computer games and a CD and DVD player for movies.

” It can be used to divert kids’ minds from the stressors of hospital treatment and the anxiety caused by being in unfamiliar surroundings and away from daily routines,” Bender said.

The units were purchased from the Starlight Foundation – a Children’s Foundation dedicated to seriously ill and hospitalized children and their families.

“The console itself is encased so that there is no chance of cross contamination from patient to patient,” Bender said. “The games are already programmed into the console so there are no disks to keep up with. Also, DVDs are inserted into the console by the staff so that the patients do not handle DVDs or the console – thereby avoiding any chance of infection.”

The pediatric staff finds having this available entertainment kiosk is good medicine for their patients.

“The kids are able to pass the time watching videos or playing the Wii games, which helps to alleviate any fears or anxiety they may have from being in the hospital,” Bender said. “We notify parents that the Center is available and when the parents request the kiosk our nurses deliver it to the patient’s room.”

Scotland Memorial’s particular entertainment kiosk was purchased specifically because it is encased and games are already loaded into the Center, with the capability to program more games into it. DVDs can only be loaded and removed by the staff. Any parts which are touched by the patient are sanitized after each use by the staff.

Coloring books and crayons are also kept on the pediatric unit by the staff to help little ones while away the hours. In addition, the Volunteer Auxiliary provides stuffed animals.

“The pain, loneliness and isolation that sick children may feel often cause them to miss out on the normal experiences that healthy children take for granted. We want to do all we can to help each child have a speedy recovery,” Bender said.