Special Babies Clinic
Special Trips for Special Babies Exotic animals, a hot-air balloon, a chance to build your “dream” car — a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo or the Please Touch Museum helps kids get to know a whole new world. And that, in turn, helps them grow: “Research shows that enlarging a child’s universe is important to development,” says Hallam Hurt, M.D., director of the Special Babies Clinic (SBC), a follow-up program for high-risk and preterm infants treated at CHOP Newborn Care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The families also want to foster their children’s development. In a survey conducted in 2011, 96 percent of the 79 families surveyed felt that reading was important to their child’s development, with 41 percent having been to the library in the past six months. Ninety-six percent also felt that taking the time to do a new activity was important to their child’s development, but only 27 percent had taken their child to a zoo, museum, aquarium or theme park in the past six months. And only 22 percent had taken their child on a trip 50 miles outside the city in the past six months. The barrier many SBC families face, Hurt says, is cost. For some activities, adult tickets can range from $18 – $50, while child tickets cost $15 – $40 — well beyond the reach of families facing economic challenges.
Visiting Please Touch Museum “We enjoyed everything: the cars, the bus — and the kids loved Alice in Wonderland. They wanted to go back the next day … they are talking about it nonstop. I didn’t even know Please Touch Museum existed … it let them see a whole new place.” – SBC Grandmother
6 • CHOP 2011 Community Benefit Report
To make these important experiences more accessible for SBC families, Hurt and her colleagues worked with Philadelphia Zoo President and CEO Vikram Dewan to arrange for SBC families to spend a day at the Zoo free of charge; Laura Foster, president and CEO of Please Touch Museum, also helped arrange free museum visits for the families. Since the Special Trips for Special Babies program began in summer 2010, there have been nine trips to the Zoo and two trips to the Please Touch Museum, with a total of 231 visitors in 2010 and 321 visitors in 2011. Of the 2011 visitors, 99 percent had Medicaid-type insurance, 99 percent of the biological mothers were single, and 1 percent of the mothers had a college degree. In a post-visit survey, 100 percent of families said they were enthusiastic about their experience, and 100 percent wished to return. Both the Zoo and the Please Touch Museum offered free admission, and CHOP covered transportation, snacks and the other incidentals that helped make the trips so special. “The kids were just enthralled,” says Hurt, “and the families were so grateful.” n Learn more about SBC by calling 215-426-7329.