With your generous support, SF4C provides a world of play and a space for understanding to hospitalized children and their families around the world. By providing hospitalized children the space and resources for play in the medical setting, they are given an opportunity to process and understand the often scary and confusing medical world they find themselves in.
Thoma, a four year old who had to visit the hospital multiple times in Tbilisi, is proof of this. SF4C provides financial support and resources for the psychologists and playrooms here. Our psychologist, Lela, explains;
“We offered Thoma and his granny the opportunity to play “Doctor.” We introduced medical equipment and taught him about what to expect. We supported them emotionally and taught them coping techniques to use when feeling anxious or afraid. Playfulness and sincerity helped us gain his trust.”
For Thoma, play provided him with the space he needed to feel safe at the hospital, and to trust the healthcare professionals taking care of him. It was through play that the hospital environment became a place of understanding for Thoma, rather than a place of confusion and fear. As Thoma’s story demonstrates, play is a natural way that healthcare professionals can build trust and rapport with patients. It is our goal to make children feel comfortable in a medical setting that can often be filled with so much discomfort. By funding opportunities to use play as a tool to build trust and rapport, SF4C helps to make children feel seen and understood for exactly who they are. And the best part – ANYONE CAN PLAY! Play is so much more than a toy or a room, it is a way for children and healthcare professionals to bond. It is a bond that supersedes language, culture, age – a language that all healthcare professionals can speak, when given the resources to do so.
With generous donors like you, SF4C is able to provide children like Thoma with the ability to use play as a source of joy, bonding, growth and understanding during their medical journey. THANK YOU!
