April 13--Mikaela Sienkiewicz has whiled away the past four months at Children's Hospital by giving manicures and working on crafts as she awaits a kidney-liver transplant.
Starting Tuesday, the 13-year-old girl from Burlington, Vt., added video games to her leisure activities.
"It's something different to do," said Mikaela, swaddled in blankets, in a voice barely above a whisper.
Hers was among 24 rooms in the adolescent medicine unit at the Lawrenceville hospital that were equipped with about $15,000 worth of Xboxes, controllers and other equipment. It's all part of the Make Room for Kids initiative sponsored by the Mario Lemieux Foundation through the generosity of Microsoft employees and others in the community. Microsoft volunteers installed the equipment yesterday.
"It's hard enough to be a teenager," said Nancy Angus, executive director of the foundation. "Imagine being a teenager who's ill and being here months at a time."
Many youths on the floor are being treated for illnesses such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia.
"Most of the kids here are 'frequent fliers,'" said Luke Sossi, regional sales manager for Microsoft. "They're in and out of the hospital quite regularly -- five or six days at a time."
Sossi said the children's entertainment is limited by hospital televisions that get only a few channels. With the donation, however, the patients can watch video games and movies by themselves or with visitors.
Benjamin Rambeau, 14, of Canonsburg played "Transformers" in bed on the Xbox. He has been at Children's almost a week for loose ligaments in his arm.
"I'll probably play until I go to sleep here," he said.
The devices were barely installed when Daniel Starr, 15, of Acme in Fayette County began playing with them.
He stood in front of a donated 42-inch television in the lounge and played table tennis. Attached to an intravenous line, he swept his paddleless hand in the air while he watched the monitor.
"I lost, but it was close, 10-11," he said. "I got to take my mind off things when I'm in the hospital."
His mother, Bridget Starr, 50, appreciates the games, too, although she just watched him play. This is her son's fourth visit, ranging from one to four days, for a benign growth in the right side of his brain.
"As many times as we're here, the kids get isolated," she said. "(The games) help keep their spirits up. It gives them an opportunity for some normalcy."
This marks the second time that the foundation teamed with Microsoft to equip Children's with Xboxes. Last year, they installed them in every room of the transplant unit, and the foundation is considering adding the Xboxes elsewhere in the hospital.
"There's a lot of floors," Angus said.
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