Using the great outdoors for healing | By Kristin LaRose, Chief Nursing Officer

After a long and snowy winter here in St. Louis, we are finally getting to spend more time outside and enjoy the early signs of spring.

Getting outside is not only a mood booster for us at Ranken Jordan, it’s a part of our care for kids and it’s something we encourage all health professionals (as well as parents and caregivers) to consider as part of pediatric health.

It’s a well-accepted concept that time outside is important for kids. Research shows spending time outdoors can improve a variety of factors like vision, mood and social skills.

It’s because of these benefits and our unique care model, Care Beyond the Bedside, that we prioritize getting our patients outside.

Our hospital was designed to serve this care model, both inside and out. In our backyard alone, we have a baseball field, a putting green, and a wheelchair-friendly merry-go-round so kids can enjoy the playground regardless of their ability.

Most wouldn’t expect to see a baseball field at a hospital so it’s an example of what makes Ranken Jordan special. Many hospitals are large with multiple floors so taking a child from their room to an outdoor space can be time-consuming for staff.

The layout of our hospital was designed to make it easier for patients, staff and caregivers to get outdoors, whether it’s for a planned activity or a much needed reset. Sometimes, especially for our older kids, the beeps and hums of hospital equipment can be overwhelming so a few minutes outside to listen to the birds can provide respite.

We also have a number of partnerships with volunteers and community organizations to keep our kids active. Golf pro and avid Ranken Jordan volunteer Kevin Corn, for instance, comes every Wednesday to give golf lessons.

In addition to sports, we offer horticulture therapy to teach kids about caring for plants and offer a distraction from tests and treatments. We partnered with the Missouri Botanical Garden here in St. Louis so the plants around our hospital provide a multi-sensory experience for patients as well as families and staff.

Programs like these help us connect with kids in new ways. Each child has one or two things that really piques their interest. The minute we find out what connects with them, everything falls into place. They are so much more motivated and engaged because we can tie everything into that. It unlocks their recovery.

While getting kids outside is a priority for us, bringing medically complex children out of the hospital is a big feat. Many of our patients need critical equipment like ventilators and feeding pumps to survive, so that equipment must come with them.

Over the years we have found ways to make these life-saving tools mobile, such as using a luggage cart to transport a ventilator for a patient. We also have an outdoor nursing station so nurses can grab supplies they need without having to go back inside.

Safety is of utmost importance in any hospital, so we offer parents and caregivers special training that earns them their “Ticket To Ride” pass, which shows our staff the caregiver has completed required training and they are safe to take their child outside and enjoy valuable family time.

In case of emergency, we also have a pull cord outside anyone can pull to signal urgent care is needed.

We know getting hospitalized children outside safely is difficult and we understand this is a barrier in many health care settings.

But we have found a way to do it at Ranken Jordan and we hope what we’ve learned inspires other health care professionals, as well as parents and caregivers, to prioritize time outside for kids.

Whether a child is in the hospital or not, kids learn and thrive through play. Regardless of their abilities, we want all children at Ranken Jordan to learn there’s nothing better in childhood than getting time to play outside.