The staff of the MSU pediatric clinic at Sparrow Hospital want to make the experience of going through treatment easier on children and families.
“One bite at a time here, we’re trying to improve the quality and aesthetic for the children and the families who spend quite a lot of time here,” says Jan Quiring, Executive Director of the
MSU Children's Health Initiative in the College of Human Medicine’s Pediatrics and Human Development department.
“An infusion can take hours. They get hungry and bored. The space we have now is very drab.”
The most recent help the clinic has received came in the form of a $10,000 grant from the
Junior League of Lansing. The clinic plans to use the grant to purchase better infusion chairs, colorful abstract art, a children's table and chairs, better lighting, and, hopefully, a water feature.
“There is something very soothing about water features,” Quiring says, “and kids love water.”
The long-term vision of the Children’s Health Initiative founder Dr. Dele Davies is to go beyond small improvements to their existing facilities and create a single pediatric outpatient center for Mid-Michigan.
“With our services fragmented all over, it’s a burden on families,” says Quiring. “A lot of times people will have one doctor here and another in Ann Arbor. Our goal is to get the full complement of sub-specialists in one place.”
The current renovations of the MSU pediatric clinic are planned to be completed this summer.
Source: Jan Quiring, MSU Children's Health Initiative
Writer: Natalie Burg, News Editor
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