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Children and their families managing complex medical conditions constitute an overlooked and growing population at risk of accruing a lifetime of costs. St. Louis’s Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital serves as a healing haven for these children and their families as they transition from hospital to home. 

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Its “Care Beyond the Bedside” approach prioritizes the therapeutic power of play, a method the National Institute of Health decisively endorses and regards as an invaluable tool in an ill child’s physical recovery and emotional well-being. Ranken Jordan transforms a stressful and intimidating environment into a reassuring atmosphere of adolescent normalcy, allowing kids to be kids no matter their diagnosis.

 

As the parents to two young boys, Meg and Richard related to and believed in this mission and made play the focus of the grants awarded to Ranken Jordan. In addition to updating treatment rooms with uplifting murals and engaging accessories, the foundation procured iPads and sensory-stimulating toys for patients. When Meg and Richard discovered the hospital was seeking funding to build an updated, more accessible playground, they immediately recognized the opportunity to make another tangible difference in these patients’ lives.

 

Through a truly collaborative effort, the Margaret and Richard Riney Family Foundation and Ranken Jordan broke ground on the Margaret and Richard Riney Outdoor Playscape. The playground, designed with these persevering kids in mind, will enhance the hospital’s recreational regimens, will help facilitate some much-needed fun and will enable patients to lead a fuller life.