Why we built two classrooms in our hospital | By Kristin LaRose, Chief Nursing Officer

Last year we announced a $1.4 million renovation, including construction of two new classrooms for our innovative OZ program.

Both classrooms opened at the end of 2024, so I’d like to share more about the difference they’ve already made and what they mean for us at Ranken Jordan.

The purpose of OZ is to offer hospitalized, medically complex kids age 5 and younger the opportunity to have structured social play and developmental stimulation – two important factors to help reduce the adverse developmental impacts that often accompany long-term hospitalization.

We started OZ in the spring of 2022 and it has since become a critical part of care plans for patients 0-5. (It’s a program we are incredibly proud of and it is supported by our own research–read more about it here.)

As OZ developed, we quickly learned we needed a permanent home instead of the makeshift area we created, so we worked with Steve Hunsicker, Principal with 527 Architects, to design two permanent classrooms.

We started moving into the new rooms in December 2024 and our young patients noticed a difference immediately. They love the bright, natural light from the new windows and they love the additional space that allows our kids to move around more freely.

Another highlight of the new space is a wheelchair-accessible door to the outdoors. While this may seem like a small detail, many of our youngest patients rarely feel the wind on their face because they have been in the hospital their whole lives, so going outside provides some normalcy. Being in the sun and exploring outside is also part of their healing process, so we can’t wait for the first warm, sunny day after a cold winter.

Overall, we’ve seen nothing but smiles from our kids since we’ve moved to the new classrooms. Our young patients already recognize the OZ classrooms as a place for fun. One patient even starts doing the “Wheels on the Bus” motion when he comes in because he knows we love to sing. OZ is a welcome break for children who often have to deal with medication and medical procedures and our new space has already had a positive impact on them.

In addition to enjoying the new space itself, our two new classrooms are signs of our commitment to OZ. It is now a permanent part of our building, but it’s also a permanent part of our care. The new classrooms give us more space so all children ages 0-5 at Ranken Jordan will be able to attend OZ moving forward.

As we look to the future, we are also looking at how we can offer more OZ sessions and for new ways in which we can quantify the program’s success.

There is a lot more to come from OZ here at Ranken Jordan but these new classrooms are a testament to how important OZ is to us. It’s not just a program we offer, it’s in our DNA.