Being taken to the hospital in an ambulance can be a scary experience for a child.
To lessen the anxiety, paramedics at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare of Iowa offer their young charges the option of watching movies during the ride. The children can pick from among more than a dozen DVDs. They watch them on a portable DVD player.
Wheaton Iowa staff and others donate the movies and switch them out regularly to keep fresh titles on hand, said Angela Buskohl, Wheaton Iowa ambulance service manager.
A crew member came up with the movie idea several years ago after recognizing that children can't see out of the ambulance, and there's not much to stimulate them visually inside.
"The movies calm the children, and this puts their parents at ease," said Buskohl.
The three-hospital Wheaton Iowa region is considering offering movie choices to adult patients as well.
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