PEDIATRIC RECREATION

Abstract

ILLNESS creates difficult problems for a child and hospitalization adds to these by separating him abruptly from his parents and from the customary ways of life. Concerned with these problems, the Division of Pediatric Recreation at New York Hospital—Cornell Medical Center has developed a program which attempts to provide a maximum of individualized support for both the child and the parent during hospitalization. Many hospitals have recognized the importance and value of this type of pediatric service. For example, the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, Western Reserve University, has developed a comprehensive program of child care on a pediatric service in a general hospital situation. Emma N. Platt has given a detailed description of this in "Working with Children in Hospitals." A program at the Boston Floating Hospital, Tufts University School of Medicine, has been described by Veronica B. Tisza, M.D., and Kristine Angoff. The Pediatric Department of the New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center has a long-standing tradition of emphasizing the importance of comprehensive patient care and of devoting special attention to the emotional, social, and recreational needs of the patients. To implement these aims the Division of Child Development was organized in 1947; the sub-Division of Pediatric Recreation is one of the major aspects of its activities. The Division's facilities include a nursery school which is used as a laboratory to teach and demonstrate normal growth and development. The school is attended by a group of "well" children from the neighborhood and a trained nursery school staff provides a typical nursery school program.