Celebrating Our Innovations
Imagination Wagon
Imagination Wagon
Innovators:
Melissa Anderson, Director of Community Relations and Business Development, and
Sharon Wesberry, Manager of Child Life, Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, Baton Rouge, LA
Imagination Wagon
Innovators:
Melissa Anderson, Director of Community Relations and Business Development, and
Sharon Wesberry, Manager of Child Life, Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, Baton Rouge, LA
Inspiration: Make the inpatient experience less scary for younger pediatric patients.
Solution: The Imagination Wagon is a whimsical, colorful, child-themed transport that provides pediatric patients comfort and escape while reducing their anxiety and fear of the unknown. The product addresses specific functional transport needs while offering features designed to appeal to young children. It can be used for patients ages 2 to 8 from the entry door to any destination around the hospital whenever safely possible.
Impact: More than 220 children’s hospitals in the U.S. serve pediatric patients. Children can be transported in a fun vehicle instead of in a standard wheelchair, which helps reduce the patient’s fear, anxiety, and stress.
Collaboration: After sharing the idea with Innovation Lab, together Ms. Anderson, Ms. Wesberry, and Innovation Lab explored market analysis, conducted design ideation, and created design requirements research for the product in cooperation with the Lab’s network of clinical partners. We conducted multiple iterative phases of research, industrial design, and engineering to result in a final product. We established an early partnership with start-up medical device company Imagination Medical, which assisted with procurement of the phase 3 prototype, completed development, and through a licensing agreement is marketing and delivering boat- and rocket-themed Imagination Wagons to hospitals nationwide.
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