Virtual squirrel Chip a hospital pal for anxious young patients

New mobile app guides kids through their journey at Surrey Memorial

Meet Chip, the virtual squirrel who guides youngsters through their admittance, surgery and discharge from the Children's Health Centre at Surrey Memorial.

“Chip will officially be on staff (shortly),” said Jane Adams, president and CEO of Surrey Hospitals Foundation, which funded 40 per cent of the renovations to the Children's Health Centre. “He's a vivid, little chirpy squirrel.”

Five years ago, the foundation decided to fund roughly 40 per cent of Surrey Memorial Hospital's planned renovation and overhaul of the Children's Health Centre. While planning was underway for that, Dr. Amir Behboudi, an ER pediatric surgeon with Fraser Health, was using goggles and videos to distract his young patients.

He was working on the project with Microsoft's mixed reality studio in Seattle, which developed videos of things such as roller-coaster rides, age-appropriate themes that would engross little viewers while stitches are applied to the face or other procedures.

“It calmed the children, they didn't express as much pain, he had success with that,” Adams said.

Then Behboudi took his young family to a Great Wolf Lodge theme park, and noticed kids were kept busy with virtual games such as hide-and-seek. “Dr. Behboudi got inspired and thought, `What if we could make hospital a less terrifying and more engaging place for children,' ” Adams said. “They wouldn't be as frightened, and probably the outcomes would be better.”

That's when he approached the foundation.

“We thought it was fabulous, and it was perfect timing because we were completely renovating the Children's Health Centre,” he said.

The renovation was woodland themed and all the art and colours were tested with families and children. One of the favourite little characters was a squirrel, and Microsoft took that and created Chip.

When the 1,200 children who are treated at Surrey every year aim their phone at one of three acorns spaced around the hospital, Chip greets them and, depending on where they are, welcomes them, helps calm them pre-surgery and wishes them well upon discharge.

“He walks them through some of the things they have to do,” Adams said. Things like getting a bracelet, things like taking off their clothes and putting on a hospital gown.

“When you think about it, our clothes are familiar, they are kind of our armour, our protection against the world,” Adams said.

“Little Chip takes them through this, it helps demystify the whole process and just creates the feeling that this is a fun place, a happy place where good things happen.”

The mobile app, called My Hospital Pal, is the first of its kind in Canada, Adams said.

“We've all seen the tremendous success and popularity of the augmented reality video game Pokémon Go, so when the opportunity came up to leverage the technological innovation and power of AR in our Children's Health Centre, we leapt at the chance,” she said.