Laptops speed kids’ recovery

Hospitalization is an extremely isolating experience for seriously ill children and teens. It is hard for them to keep in touch with family and friends, and to keep up with schoolwork.
In response, the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation has teamed up with entertainment giant, the Walt Disney Company, and the world’s third largest toy company, Ban Dai, to provide a solution for children’s hospitals all over the country - PC Pals.
Recently, five of the specially built and configured laptop computers were delivered to the pediatric section of New York Hospital Queens, on Main Street in Flushing.
“We’re very grateful,” said Dr. Joseph J. Abularrage, chair of the pediatric unit of the hospital. “Kids today are so used to having computer access for schoolwork and play,” he explained, “that being ‘cut off’ from everything while here in treatment is a major upset.”
Abularrage’s expertise is more than just professional. He has two children who had been “deathly ill,” according to a hospital staffer.
“Having computers for the kids promotes wellness and shrinks the time they’re in the hospital,” Abularrage said.
The laptops are top-of-the-line units and are tethered to rugged storage cases. They’re crammed full of software appropriate for young people and have internet access, according to a spokesperson for Starbright.
“We have them on a full-support 3-year warranty - if there’s a problem that can’t be fixed by a tech-support person online in 10 minutes, they ship out a replacement unit the same day,” they said.
The current PC Pal program is a cooperative effort of Disney, Ban Dai and Bank of America, who pooled several million dollars to place 200 of the units in children’s hospital facilities nationwide. The laptops replace an older, kiosk computer terminal, and can be taken to a patient’s bedside.
Ban Dai licenses the “Power Rangers” from Disney. Actors dressed as the kid-show super heroes have been touring the country to promote awareness of the program, for which there is a substantial waiting list.