In the News
Wunderwagon - Hippo Appears in the Disney&trade Movie "Santa Paws"!
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New Faces on the Hospital Scene
In her role as HOK recruiter, Nikki Duffner is always on the lookout for new design talent. She’s also attuned to noticing how design can improve people’s lives – sometimes in fresh and unexpected ways.
I think it’s safe to assume that design probably wasn’t top-of-mind when Nikki had to accompany her young son Max for a seven-day stay at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Yet that’s where they came face-to-face with a bright green alligator wagon. It wheeled past them and helped turn what could’ve been a stressful hospital experience into a playful one.
She later discovered the wagon was the creation of a good friend of hers, Jack Heller. He developed the Wunderwagon™-HC to offer a better product for transporting young patients in a hospital (following a couple of pediatric hospital stays with one of his youngsters). What continues to inspire him are the stories of how kids respond to the wagons, including one little boy who wouldn’t leave his room for treatment unless he got to ride in one of these buggies.
The alligator, hippopotamus and caterpillar wagons have been making appearances at hospitals throughout the region, and Jack is currently developing customized jungle animals for St. John’s Mercy. His advice to other designers: “Be very persistent. You may never know where design can have an impact. Anyone with a novel idea is going to be met with resistance. Learn from it and be patient. Keep rolling.”
As her own personal testament to the power of design, Nikki plans to purchase a Wunderwagon™-HC in HOK’s name and donate it to a local hospital.
News Release
Contact: Marsha Henn, Director of Women and Children’s Services
Faith Regional Health Services, (402) 644-6436
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For Immediate Release
Norfolk Morning Kiwanis Club Presents
Faith Regional Health Services’ Pediatric Unit with Donation.
Norfolk – July 15, 2010: The Pediatrics Unit at Faith Regional Health Services was presented with two Wunderworks™ - HC pediatric wagons and a selection of DVDs by the Norfolk Morning Kiwanis Club. The donation was presented by Terry Hirsch, Darrell Jorgensen, Duane Reimer, Ron Skiff and Steve Warner to Marsha Henn, RN, MSN Director of Women and Children’s Services and Margaret Svitak, RN, a nurse in the Pediatrics Unit. The wagons, designed for a healthcare environment, provide a safe and familiar means of transport within the hospital.
“Our mission is kids,” said Terry Hirsch, Secretary of the Norfolk Morning Kiwanis Club. “We used to donate meals to the pediatric patients at Faith Regional. We knew we wanted to get involved with doing something for the children again. When we found out that Faith Regional was in need of wagons for the kids, we knew we wanted to donate them.”
The retail cost of the wagons and DVDs is $1,050.
“We are thrilled to have these wagons presented to us,” remarked Henn. “We are planning on sharing one of the wagons with our Emergency Department. Now that the new addition is open, the distance between the ED to the Pediatrics Unit is a little longer. We think children will enjoy being transferred to their rooms in the wagons.”
The Norfolk Morning Kiwanis Club has a long history of contributing to the welfare of children in Northeast Nebraska since its establishment in 1996.
Faith Regional Health Services is a 166-bed acute care hospital. Affiliates include Faith Regional Physician Services, Faith Regional Surgery Center, Saint Joseph’s Rehabilitation and Care Center and Skyview Villa Assisted Living.
