Disneyland Resort has begun working with Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) as part of their commitment to reinvent the patient and family experience in children’s hospitals around the world, according to the Disney Parks Blog.
- Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger announced back in March, a plan to invest more than $100 million in company resources in Children’s Hospitals around the world as part of the Disney Team of Heroes initiative.
- Disney will work with patient care experts at CHOC to create innovative and interactive experiences to provide moments of joy for patients and their families in order to relieve the stress of a hospital stay.
- The program will also include customer-experience training for doctors, nurses and staff, designed to further enhance the experience of the patients and their families.
- The first hospital to benefit from the Disney Team of Heroes Initiative was the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
- Since then, more than 445 children’s hospitals have been reached by the initiative, including Hong Kong’s Children’s Hospital which teamed with Hong Kong Disneyland to launch the “Dress Well” project that saw patients receive custom-designed Disney-themed clothing to wear during their stay.
- Disneyland Resort has a long history with CHOC that includes the annual CHOC Walk in the Park and Walt Disney actually being on the community committee that helped open the Children’s Hospital.
What they’re saying:
- Disneyland Resort President Josh D’Amaro: “We are proud to provide our resources and creativity to CHOC Children’s to support the amazing work they do. We hope to deliver some joy to CHOC’s young patients by infusing their hospital stays with some Disney magic.”
- Kimberly Chavalas Cripe, president and CEO, CHOC Children’s: “We are thrilled to partner with Disney to leverage the power of imagination, creativity and make believe in creating memorable experiences for our patients. We believe nothing – especially illness or injury – should put childhood on pause.”