As healthcare architects, we can design so much more than physical spaces. This project allowed the PAYETTE team to stretch the way we think about patient care while delivering a much-needed resource to an important Boston healthcare institution. Inspired by Wendy Wooden, a young girl who realized she could use her experience to help other families facing an Emergency Department visit, PAYETTE volunteered to develop and produce the original script she composed, and turned Wendy’s idea into a nine-minute video to make the ED less stressful for children.
Massachusetts General Hospital for Children
You Are Here: Wendy’s Welcome to the Emergency Department
Project Statistics
LOCATION
Boston, MA / United States
Completed
2016
IN THE NEWS
Team
Stuart Baur, AIA
Project Manager
Karen Robichaud
Project Manager
Mike Lee
Editor
Parke MacDowell, AIA
Animator
Garrett House
Animator
Justin Miller
Animator
It Takes a Village
Drawing on the talents of over 20 people in our firm, this video features originally composed music, photography, time-lapse videography, digitized sketching and voice-over narration by Wendy herself.
Wendy’s Impact
There is abundant evidence that the video is working. Since Massachusetts General Hospital started using it in October 2016, ED doctors and nurses have attested to its ability to calm patients and families. More than 14,000 children who visit the Pediatric ER at MGH for Children see it each year. Anecdotes abound of patients being taken to their exam room already knowing what to expect. The video received the Patient Champion Award from the Patients’ View Institute in 2016 for its patient advocacy.
Children cope better when they know in advance what to expect and what is expected of them and this video gives the children and families a glimpse into the pediatric Emergency Department environment – where they will go, who they will meet and what they will do. It is a wonderful way for us and specifically Wendy, to welcome the patients to the Emergency Department and to prepare them for their visit.
Hillary D’Amato, Child Life Specialist, MGHfC
