Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is one of the leading children’s hospitals in the country. One of the programming components of the hospital is to assist each patient during their stay by easing some of the psychological and social adjustments of a long hospital stay. Using the tools of music, art, humor, special events and visitors, and fun, the staff of the child life program specifically focuses on providing comfort in multiple ways to children who are often very, very, sick. Another challenge that school age children face when facing a long hospital stay is keeping up with schoolwork. The hospital has a teacher on staff who helps to coordinate with the home district to keep the student/patient up to speed as much as possible during this challenging time. The child life program at the hospital is supported specifically via philanthropic donations. The Robert Nelson Foundation is honored to have provided a gift of $10,000.00 to help support these special children and the staff that take care of them each day.
