Baystate updates Play Deck, where young patients can just be kids

The Baystate Medical Center Play Deck offers an area for young patients to play.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen

SPRINGFIELD — The first thing people notice when entering the Baystate Play Deck are the colors.

Jewel toned film panels on the floor-to-ceiling windows splash colors across the floor as the sun moves throughout the day.

A colorful mural at one end of the room draws the eye up to see a tree with a squirrel, owl and birds in its branches.

Further up the wall, the sky turns to stars with a lit crescent moon, and the word imagine spelled out in a constellation.

The animal motif is carried through the room, past the couch and TV, and the wall stacked with board games, to an area that looks like it was lifted straight out of a kindergarten classroom. Comfortable furniture, make-believe play sets and toys invite children to play.

Play is the sole purpose of the room and accompanying outdoor deck.

It also helps prevent isolation, giving children and teens a place to go to get fresh air and spend time outside of their hospital rooms.

The Play Deck opened 14 years ago, and the well-used space was ready for an update. There was carpeting on the floor, which posed cleaning and sanitation challenges. The wall of windows floods the room with natural light, but it also made the space heat up by midday.

To address that, retractable shades were installed, a translucent coating was added to the greenhouse style glass on the ceiling and the colored film on the top half of the windows filters the sun.

The barrier on top of the curved half-wall in the room was designed to keep people safe, because, as Director of Patient Support Services Stephanie Adam said, “Kids are climbers.” But over time, the barrier, like other parts of the room, began to show its use by thousands of children. About 20 children and teens use the room each day, as well as their siblings.

“This space is supposed to be their safe space,” said Child Life Amanda Simas. “This is strictly a place where they can be a kid.” She said no children undergo medical tests or blood draws in the room. Their vitals are not checked, except in emergency situations. Referring to the oxygen equipment on the walls and outside on the deck, Mary Ann Westcott, unit manager for Life and Healing Arts, said children are never in an area where care cannot be provided, if needed. “It’s still a hospital,” she said. Nonetheless, the room “helps children just be children. It’s really magical,” she said. “There’s nothing more natural than for families to sit and watch their children play.”

Westcott said the entire pediatric unit has a lighter, more colorful feel to it than the rest of the hospital, but the Play Deck is the crown jewel. She said it offers a place for the community to interact with the children at the hospital. Events and entertainers come in to enrich the lives of the young people, including sports teams. Holidays are also celebrated on the Play Deck.

Adam said, “Play is the primary way children learn” and it “helps children process complex emotions.” She described the Play Deck as a “critical,” and “beautiful, magical space” that provides “distraction from medical treatments.”

One of those distractions and a frequent visitor to the Play Deck is Baystate Medical Center’s hospital facility dog Isabela, known affectionately as Isa. The 4-year-old golden retriever has received intense training beyond that of a standard therapy dog. “She can be part of procedures,” Simas said. Adam added, “She knows when you’re not feeling great. She’ll come over and put her head in your lap and give some love.”

Simas said the patients and staff light up when they see Isa. While Westcott agreed, she joked, “It’s the first time in my very long career I’ve been allergic to one of my staff.”

Kathy Tobin, interim vice president of philanthropy, thanked Country Bank for funding the mural and the Golf Committee. The annual tournament paid for many of the upgrades to the space. Tobin said registrations for the tournament sell out “pretty quickly” each year, because she said the area golfers “know how important play is.” Pediatrician in Chief Matthew Di Guglielmo spoke about how much he hated being in the hospital as a sick teen and the importance of having a space like the Play Deck.