Arkansas Children's Hospital hosted a renaming ceremony in Little Rock for its school program Wednesday after Panda Express' philanthropic arm, Panda Cares, pledged nearly $1.2 million to the school.
The Panda Express Hospital School Program serves patients through education, music therapy and specialized autism services and is supported by the Panda Cares Center of Hope initiative.
Funds raised in-store and online at Panda Express benefit each store's local community. Following the multimillion-dollar commitment to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals to fund Panda Cares Centers of Hope, Panda Express and the Network Hospitals have debuted Panda Cares Center of Hope locations at several hospitals across the country.
"We are proud to partner with Children's Miracle Network Hospitals to bring the vision of the Panda Cares Center of Hope to life and are humbled to be part of the healing journey for families and kids at these hospitals," Peggy Cherng, co-founder and co-CEO of Panda Restaurant Group, said in a news release. "Children are our future and through this partnership and curriculum designed to give children the strength to thrive, we will bring smiles and hope to communities nationwide."
Fred Scarborough, executive vice president and chief communications officer at the hospital, said that this donation has come at the right time because of the hospital's largest clinical expansion in its 111-year history at $320 million.
"That will really expand the facilities of Arkansas Children's both here at Arkansas Children's Hospital, and Arkansas Children's Northwest, using a principle called discovery and delight. So, we design spaces where children will discover new things and be delighted by them ... [and] really send the signal, 'this place was built for you,'" he said.
The hospital school is education in a holistic form and has been at Arkansas Children's since the 1980s. It has four pillars of child well-being: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Three hospital school teachers conduct sessions five days a week and one-on-one interventions. Classes are offered to patients whose stay is over seven days.
Child life specialists help work with hospitalized children to "make their experience as normal as possible, to make sure kids can still be kids," according to a news release. Artists and full-time music therapists come in to promote creative expression in children.
Katie Pizan, a middle school teacher at the hospital, said she likes the fact that there's less pressure on the children.
"I think when someone's sick or doesn't feel good, and you can kind of come in and go, 'let's do something that's normal, we're gonna do math' or whatever, and sometimes kids, just to get out of the space of the sick or the medicine and just come down and do something normal or even come play a game with us in the classroom -- it's going to help make them feel better and do better," she said.
Pizan said the teachers are grateful for Panda's donation for potential new technology or things they "wouldn't think would be possible."
Sarah Wolven, strategic initiatives project manager for the hospital, has worked with the family advisory board to get feedback from parents, caregivers and patients on what's going well and what more can be done for a better patient experience.
"Especially as a parent of a child with a medically complex condition, whenever you get out of that routine, it's hard because you're away from your school, your friends, your hobbies, your home life," she said. "So, having something sort of normal in the hospital is really special. I've really gotten to know a lot more about this program since working here. I've been here a year and it's just so exciting just to know that that's even an option, especially for kids who are here for months at a time."
Wolven has worked with Megan Boyd, whose stepson has short bowel syndrome and has had extended hospital stays in the past.
"He has a tablet on the bed so at his age he could just stare at that all day long. And it's up to us to find some kind of excuse for getting off of it and it's got to be some kind of other activity," Boyd said. "We have had the art cart come in and he's learned how to make paper airplanes, then he showed us how to make a really easy clay cat and then we did a lot of painting."
During the event with Panda Express workers and their mascot, Wolven recalled a memorable moment when Boyd's stepson grabbed her hand and put it on Boyd's.
"I'm so thankful for the support because I know people don't usually have that, and I'm thankful for the support group and family that we've created, all of us together," Boyd said.