A Virtual Toy Drive for Children’s Hospitals

I am currently doing some Lean coaching and implementation work in the radiology department of a large children's hospital. One thing I have discovered is that kids often have to lay in an MRI machine for long periods of time. Those who do not have to be sedated to hold still are given an opportunity to watch a DVD to help pass the time and to keep their mind off of their sickness.

There are also many waiting rooms where DVDs are used to help keep kids and siblings entertained (although that's one aspect of the experience we are working on reducing — that waiting time).

I don't ask much of my blog readers — but if you're looking for an opportunity to make a donation, please consider your local children's hospital. You can either buy new DVD's or new toys of all sorts. Different hospitals list their own policies on new versus used and the types of items they recommend donating (for example, stuffed toys are often not preferred because of cleanliness issues).

I'm listing some links to different hospitals around the country. You can use the comments feature if you'd like to publicly pledge (even anonymously) to the effort. If you're a blogger, please link to this page or feel free to copy my efforts here. If you set up your own page, please let me know so I can link to you and report on your efforts.

There's nothing like being in a children's hospital for helping one realize how lucky you are and how inconsequential other problems might seem.

List of Children's Hospital donation pages (feel free to add more in the comments)

• Children's Hospital of New Jersey
• Children's Medical Center, Dallas TX
• East Tennessee Children's Hospital
• Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt
• The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (NJ)
• Children's Hospital at Dartmouth
• Riley Hospital for Children (Indianapolis)
  
• All Children's Hospital (St. Petersburg, FL)
• MUSC Children's Hospital (South Carolina)
• Children's Hospital, St. Louis
• Children's Hospital of Orange County
• Children's Hospital Boston
• Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
• Arkansas Children's Hospital
• Akron Children's Hospital
• Children's Hospital Oakland
• Children's Memorial Hospital (Chicago)
• Cincinnati Children's
• Comer Children's Hospital (Univ. of Chicago)
  
• Children's Hospital (Greenville SC)
• Children's Healthcare of Atlanta