Packard Children’s Hospital Transformed for ‘An Evening in Wonderland’ Prom

Because the hospital faculty yr got here to a detailed, teen sufferers at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford took half in a cherished annual ceremony of passage: promenade

Over the weekend, the hospital’s Dunlevie Garden and adjoining Harvest Café have been remodeled into an Alice in Wonderland–impressed celebration for college students from the Hospital School, in addition to teen inpatients and outpatients ages 14 and older.

For a lot of college students balancing lecturers with ongoing medical care, the night provided a uncommon alternative to expertise a milestone usually taken as a right.

Occasions like promenade have been designed by the Child Life and Creative Arts workforce to assist sufferers keep a way of normalcy, connection, and pleasure throughout their hospital expertise. This yr’s theme, “An Night in Wonderland,” invited sufferers to step right into a whimsical world full of outsized taking part in playing cards, tilted clocks, a checkerboard dance ground, and areas impressed by the beloved story.

“We remodeled totally different areas into immersive experiences for sufferers, together with touring ‘down the rabbit gap,’ strolling via the Queen’s Backyard, attending a whimsical tea social gathering, and extra,” mentioned Sydnee Dolphay, baby life particular occasions coordinator. “Our purpose was to create a magical and imaginative atmosphere that introduced the story to life in a enjoyable and memorable method.”

Sufferers arrived in festive apparel, with some medical tools thoughtfully included into the night’s theme. All through the celebration, attendees loved a Royal Croquet Recreation, a Mad Hatter Customization Store, a Portray the Roses Pink mural, a Keys to Wonderland Scavenger Hunt, and a cease on the Prize Store.

In addition they took half in conventional promenade actions, together with dancing and posing for photographs in a photograph sales space from Amos Productions. Caricaturist Pete McDonnell captured their likenesses, Pursuit Salon added hair tinsel, magician Jonathan Berry Smith carried out card tips, and the Bobateani Boba Bar provided one other playful nod to Wonderland.

Youngster life specialists, who give attention to the emotional well-being of pediatric sufferers, mentioned the occasion was about greater than celebration. Since promenade was is a vital adolescent milestone, the promenade committee wished to reimagine acquainted parts from Alice in Wonderland in a method that felt partaking, imaginative, and age-appropriate for teen sufferers.

“Our hope was that promenade supplied sufferers with an exquisite expertise of a milestone occasion that they might not have been capable of attend in the event that they have been within the hospital,” mentioned Dolphay. “Extra importantly, we wished this occasion to have a good time them, create joyful reminiscences, and provides them a particular night time the place they may merely have enjoyable and revel in themselves.” “An Night in Wonderland” was made potential by beneficiant volunteers and donors, together with the Ambassadors for Lucile Packard Youngsters’s Hospital Stanford, Roth Auxiliary, Chartis, Herrero Builders and Truebeck and the Stanford Medication Youngsters’s Well being Design and Building Staff.