Lying in the hospital and walking through the zoo. It seems like a crazy combination, but in MUMC+ it is possible.
With the help of Virtual Reality glasses, patients in the children’s ward can walk around a number of animal enclosures of the GaiaZOO.
petting zoo
The Maastricht company Psylaris has made sculptures in the Kerkraadse zoo especially for the children in the department. The idea arose during the corona pandemic. “There used to be a project where the animals came from the petting zoo to the ward,” says pediatric nurse Pascalle Vroemen. But that was no longer possible due to the corona measures.
recovery
According to Vroemen, it is important that there are projects like this in the children’s ward. “For the children it really is a moment of not being sick, not being busy with the various actions that we sometimes have to do,” said the pediatric nurse. “Not only is that fun, but it also helps them in their recovery.”
extra
The VR glasses are not an alternative to the petting zoo project. “We are working very hard to restart that in the department,” says Vroemen. The VR glasses will exist next to the petting zoo. “For children who are bed-bound, the glasses offer the possibility, without having to do a lot of physical effort, to take a look at the zoo”, says Vroemen, “and to offer some distraction for the children”.