enCourage Kids Foundation - Making Hospitals a Better Place to Get Better

Do you know that when pediatric patients are in the hospital for an extended period that they miss out on learning, classroom activities, exercise, and more? The experience can even be traumatic.
Most people don’t, especially when they have a healthy child or children at home.
Your listeners may also not know that the daily interaction that they receive at school, home and with friends and family is critical in shaping their overall mental health and the reason why we provide those resources.
WHY OUR WORK IS NECESSARY & PROGRAMS WE PROVIDE
Hospital Happenings
Clowns, musicians, visual artists, and magicians provide whimsical moments of fun and distraction. Through engaging, interactive performances, these entertainers bring laughs and lift up patients’ spirits, help relieve loneliness and fear, and brighten up any day.
Creative Arts
enCourage Kids funds artist-in-residence programs and supports music therapy, art therapy, and horticulture therapy initiatives. Such tactile therapy programs are proven to help kids release anxiety and stress, increase cooperation with medical procedures, foster mindfulness, and help kids explore their creative side.
Technology Programs
These include inpatient entertainment systems and tablets loaded with games and educational apps to help kids cope. We also provide advanced recording technology for music therapy, intra-hospital patient-to-patient TV programming, and mobile treatment units to calm and entertain non-mobile patients in their rooms.
Hospital Admission & Comfort Kits
Each kit includes individualized and engaging activity packs given to patients upon arrival to keep their minds and hands busy.
Bears
Who couldn’t use the companionship of a cuddly teddy bear—the ultimate comforting “paw” to hold. Our Bear Program provides that much-needed solace and serves as a teaching tool to help kids develop coping skills.
Equipment & Supplies
Responding to hospital requests, the items we provide make it easier for hospital staff to do their jobs. Examples include sourcing and providing child-friendly exam tables and infant scales to enhance care, onesies that help raise awareness for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and adaptive sports equipment for children with significant physical limitations.
Please help us educate your listeners and potential donors as to why the work that we provide, and our programs are necessary together with the health care pediatric patients receive while in the hospital.

We are grateful for any programming time you can spare. Please reply with any questions you may have.

Warm regards,

Michele Hall Duncan
President & CEO enCourage Kids Foundation
Michele@encourage-kids.org
www.encourage-kids.org
enCourage Kids Foundation envisions a world where every child–regardless of the difficulty of his or her medical journey—experiences joy, hope, resilience, and healing.