A Playground With A Purpose
For a child, play is more than recreation. It is how children explore, communicate, build confidence, develop relationships, regulate emotions, solve problems, and learn about the world around them.
The Power of Play will transform those natural opportunities into purposeful therapeutic experiences for children receiving care at Beatrice Community Hospital.
Beatrice Community Hospital Foundation is raising funds to extend pediatric therapy beyond the walls of the traditional treatment room. The specialized outdoor environment will be used by Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Behavioral Health professionals to support children with a wide range of physical, developmental, sensory, communication, behavioral, and emotional needs.
Extending Therapy Beyond The Treatment Room
One of the most valuable aspects of The Power of Play will be its ability to connect clinical therapy with a child's everyday environment.
Therapists can demonstrate how purposeful play activities and therapeutic techniques used on the playground can be adapted and replicated at home, school, community playgrounds, and other settings.
Caregivers can learn how ordinary play can become an opportunity to reinforce therapeutic goals.
By providing families with practical strategies they can use outside of therapy sessions, therapists can help create more consistent opportunities for children to practice and strengthen the skills they are developing.
Therapy doesn't have to end when the session ends. Through caregiver education and purposeful play, progress can continue at home, at school, and in the community.
Who Will Benefit?
The primary beneficiaries will be children receiving services through Beatrice Community Hospital's:
Occupational Therapy • Physical Therapy • Speech Therapy • Behavioral Health
The project will serve children with a wide range of developmental, physical, communication, sensory, behavioral, and emotional needs.
Because the playground will be located on the hospital campus, children will be able to access this resource as part of their therapeutic experience without families having to travel to another community or facility.
Parents and caregivers will also benefit by gaining additional opportunities to participate in their child's development and learn strategies they can carry into everyday life.
Here are a few of the many things patients will see the play area being utilized for, specific to each department.
Occupational Therapy: fine and gross motor development, motor planning, bilateral coordination, sensory processing, body awareness, visual-motor skills, problem solving, independence, self-regulation, and confidence.
Physical Therapy: strength, balance, coordination, mobility, endurance, gross motor development, weight shifting, and functional movement.
Speech Therapy: functional communication, following directions, expressive and receptive language, vocabulary development, social communication, turn-taking, interaction with peers and adults, and communication during play.
Behavioral Health: Emotional regulation, coping skills, mindfulness, self-awareness, social interaction, positive behavioral strategies, stress management, healthy movement, and relationship building.
The Power of Play is an investment in children today and in the health of our community tomorrow.
For children, it is play. For therapists, it is therapy. For families, it is progress.
Join us in bringing The Power of Play to Beatrice Community Hospital.
