HIPPO
ENERGY
Smile and relief for hospitalized children
PROJECT .
REFERENT
Linked to the area of the Foundation dedicated to training, education and awareness,
the "Hippo-Energy" project has already started with the installation, at the Isola Margherita department of the Regina Margherita Children's Hospital in Turin, of an aquarium containing dozens of African cichlid fish, the same fish found in the Hippo Underwater habitat tank, where the hippo family is also visible underwater.
The aim of the project is to alleviate, with moments of entertainment with educational implications, the hospitalization’s period of children admitted to the SC pediatric oncohematology hospital and to analyze the beneficial effects of animals on children participating in playful-experiential activities.
The proposed initiative intends to structure educational activities and multisensory experiences near the installed aquarium, on the one hand to help reduce the anxiety related to diagnosis, treatment and hospitalization, and on the other hand to provide children with moments of recreation, increasing the number of normal life experiences throughout the time spent in the hospital.
PERFORMED ACTIVITIES.
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Live connections with the Park: children can discover the animals of the park following the live stories of the Zoom keepers in the different habitats The meetings started in March 2022, twice a week and children were involved
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Guided tours and activities; inside the Biopark (for patients out of therapy or whose health conditions allow it)
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Photo contest organized by the UGI - Italian Parents' Union against children's cancer ODV to make as many people as possible aware of this delicate issue. The proceeds were donated to support the "Hippo energy" project thanks also to the presence of jurors such as Steve McCurry, Antonella Elia, Max Casacci, Settimio Benedusi, Paolo Ranzani, Emma Sarlo Postiglione, Roberto Bachis, Tiziana Platzer.
PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR THE NEXT
12 MONTHS.
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Activities in the hospital:educational-experiential activities studied ad hoc by Zoom educators in collaboration with the psychologists of the SC Pediatric Oncohematology of the Regina Margherita Children's Hospital in Turin directed by Prof. Franca Fagioli. The activities want to relate animal behaviours to the world of patients and their perceptions and interactions, to make a comparison between animal behaviour and psychology and human behaviour and psychology. In this phase, the cooperation of healthcare professionals, teachers and ZOOM biologists will be very close and daily, so that the activities can be absolutely targeted and included in the curriculum with the creation of moments - remotely - with classmates.
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hospital activities,will not only be social but also of scientific research, thanks to the proposal of a study which intends to detect the effectiveness of participation in educational activities and multisensory experiences in terms of psychological well-being, and evaluate the impact that these have had on the daily life of different patients and their approach to life experiences. This research work was born with the aim and the opportunity to be able to replicate it also in other hospital structures, pediatric and not
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Creation of an innovative experiential book:animals arouse a lot of different emotions in us, and these last ones represent the starting point and the common thread leading to the creation of this first experiential book. Joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise are our primary emotions and around them our inner world is created thanks to which it is possible for us to relate to ourselves and to others. The book will propose various activities to explore the emotions of children, while mirroring with the fish in the aquarium and the activities carried out in its proximity, will allow children to express thoughts, desires and fears more easily; this way the proposed activities will become more effective and useful
PARTNER.
