The first floor atrium at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center was alive with wildlife on Thursday morning as patients were introduced to various zoo animals.
The program was held to announce the launch of San Diego Zoo kids, a closed-circuit TV show coming to Cohen and the Ronald McDonald House.
The show features stories about animals to both educate and entertain patients as they receive treatment.
Debra Erickson, director of San Diego Zoo Kids, said she’s witnessed firsthand how the program can help patients.
The program helped one 9-year-old girl named Sadie learn to cope with losing her legs, Erickson said.
Sadie who was hospitalized for two months for a leg infection, Erickson said. Sadie was depressed and not talking to her mother or caregivers, Erickson said.
Until one day, when a nurse put on San Diego Zoo Kids, she said.
(Photo by Rebecca Klar)
“Her mother said it was like a light bulb went off,” Erickson said.
When Sadie was told she had to lose her leg, she said “animals lose arms and legs all the time and they’re just fine and I’ll be fine too,” Erickson said.
Sadie is now an expert horse rider, she said.
“It’s amazing what the power of animals can do,” Erickson said.
Jonathan Scheidt, deputy executive director at Cohen, and Matt Campo, executive director at the Ronald McDonald house, also spoke at Thursday’s launch event.
Scheidt said the common thread between all three organizations is trying to help patients.
