Our team creates quality family moments by supporting personalized opportunities & normalizing the environment throughout their healthcare journey.
Children of all ages and their families are encouraged to leave the bedside and are welcomed to participate in scheduled events and expressive activities.
Children & Family Experience Department is a team striving for quality family moments by creating personalized opportunities & normalizing the environment throughout their healthcare journey.
While hospitalized, some children may be restricted to the bedside. In those instances, we have volunteer teams dedicated to bringing smiles to the room.
Our Bedside Buddy program is a unique group of volunteers who are dedicated to ensuring all patients have fun, even when stuck in the hospital! Although we have many excited recreation events and activities throughout the hospital, sometimes kids just need to get better in their rooms. Bedside buddies are equipped with carts loaded with board games bringing play in the comfort of the child's room.
Pet Therapy is a program designed to bring a smile to the patients and their families, and make their hospital stay more cheerful. Certified Pet Therapy Dogs, along with their owners, visit patients' bedside and visit the Psychiatry Unit.
Currently we have a total of 15 Pet Therapy Dogs participating in the program. The joy the children receive is truly a wonderful sight, to love and be loved back, unconditionally, by these dogs. Additionally, these furry friends provide for a great anxiety reliever during difficult hospital stays.
This program is loved and appreciated by not only patients, but families, volunteers, and staff. Though it may seem a bit surprising to see dogs in a hospital, they elicit the biggest smiles from the children.
There are over 10 Playspaces throughout the hospital that provides opportunities for play and respite.
The Michael Fux Family Center (MFFC) is exclusively dedicated for the entertainment of all of our patients, families and visitors. It is our way of making you feel more at home! The center offers a wide range of services and conveniences.
The Panda Cares Center of Hope, located in the Main Lobby of the Advanced Pediatric Care Pavilion (APCP), this space is exclusively dedicated for recreational engagement of our patients, families and their visitors.
South Florida's first and the nation's only bilingual Seacrest Studio will provide a creative outlet for patients and their families to explore the world of content creation and media.
1,250
Average number of patients and their families that attend recreational events15
Pet Therapy Dogs10+
Play spaces to engage patients and their siblings during their hospital stay
