Over the weekend of October 16th to 18th, 2015, our Foundation installed THREE SMILEZONES at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston, ON.
Our Foundation transformed areas in the Children’s Outpatient Centre, the Child Development Centre gymnasium, and the Ears, Nose and Throat play area. This stunning and fun transformation included:
The Foundation was honoured to receive support from Juno Award-winning Canadian band the Tragically Hip, who inspired musical themes in the Children’s Out Patient Centre. The Foundation was also excited to renovate a number of the hospital’s existing doorways, widening them and making them even more accessible – ensuring that children of all abilities could smile and have fun in these new Zones.
In this transformation, the Smilezone Foundation was ecstatic to include the new ScreenPlay system, an inclusive, touch-free interactive media display designed for healthcare waiting spaces. ScreenPlay enables people of all abilities to create animations on the big screen through movement on the play floor. ScreenPlay is multisensory with interactive music and sounds that augment the creative experience and enhance accessibility for those with visual challenges. Designed and tested by researchers, clinicians, and kids at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, among others, it is also proven to reduce children’s waiting anxiety and increase parent and clinic staff satisfaction.
Hotel Dieu Hospital is the ambulatory care teaching and research hospital for Kingston and Southeastern Ontario, affiliated with Queen’s University. They provide expert care to more than 500,000 people in the region through specialized programs including pediatrics, medicine, ophthalmology, cardiology, urology, surgery, mental health, oncology and urgent care. They deliver quality, safe health care, while advancing innovative research and educating the health care professionals of the future. Hotel Dieu Hospital is leading the transformation of ambulatory care.