San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Story Time helps young patients cope with treatments
With the swipe of a screen, 7year-old Colton Higgins can visit an entire world of stories and crafts.
Colton, an outpatient at Methodist Children’s Hospital, sits transfixed by what he sees on his computer screen, an extension of Hemisfair’s Virtual Story Time program and remote STEAM-related activities. That’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. The weekly program is a collaboration between the nonprofit and Methodist Children’s Hospital.
Miranda Higgins, 40, watched her first-grader following along on his tablet as Traci Lewand, Hemisfair director of events, invited him to make a starfish from a bag of crafts. Using a glue stick, green glitter and scissors, Colton created a sparkling sea star out of red construction paper in a hospital room painted in blue and green.
Higgins said her son would probably share the star with his twin brother Trenton and older sister Autumn, 9.
“Ta da!” he said, as he held his artwork up in the air.
Colton’s mother said the activity was a welcome respite for her family, who is here from El Paso. The child was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2018. Last April he had a relapse. On June 1, he was flown to Methodist Children’s Hospital, where his journey began for a bone-marrow transplant. Colton was in the hospital for three and a half months.
Higgins said she’s grateful there are people and agencies to help make things more comfortable for families like hers.
“We do spend quite a bit of time at the clinic and it helps break up the time,” she said. “It’s nice to have a creative outlet for him. He thought it was cool and personalized, which was great.”
The program features a playlist of videos which Hemisfair staff members record each month. The videos feature a QR code that allows users to stop and start on their own schedules.
Last spring, Hemisfair launched the program during the pandemic to help children continue developing literacy skills and interact with cognitive play through the STEAM-related activities based on each weekly book.
Thea Setterbo, director of marketing for Hemisfair, said the collaboration with Methodist Hospital is the first of its kind for the 501(c)3 local government corporation. She said the partnership was made possible by an anonymous donor’s contribution to the Hemisfair Conservancy. The donation allowed the nonprofit to buy craft supplies and video equipment to record the book readings.
“The parks and community programming at Hemisfair are created with the goal of accessibility first,” she said. “And we’re grateful to our anonymous donor for the support that brought this partnership to life so we can provide a fun and educational outlet to San Antonio’s youngest patients who may not be able to visit us in person.”
Courtney Storm, child life manager at Methodist Children’s Hospital, said the program offers youngsters a sense of normalcy. She said child life specialists identify which children would benefit most from the program.
“I really love that it’s on demand,” Storm said. “Patients can stop and start as needed. I got to go through the newest new one, (and) the quality and passion the woman had as she read the story, it was just beautiful. It was very personalized for the families, you could tell it was made for them.”
Higgins said her son is captivated by the stories that often tie into craft-making activities. One of the reading sessions he watched was Leland reading a book by Christian Robinson. It was entitled “You Matter.”