Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth is using new robots controlled by patients to allow them to safely socialize and explore areas of its hospitals while staying physically isolated, according to a Sept. 28 WKMG report.
The health system received a grant from Champions for Children from AdventHealth Foundation Central Florida to roll out the robots across AdventHealth for Children. AdventHealth began planning to launch the robots, which resemble an iPad fixed atop a Segway transportation device, about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic began but rolled out the technology in August.
Before the pandemic, AdventHealth for Children averaged about three to four patients per unit in isolation. However, since the pandemic, almost all patients and their families are in isolation, according to the report.
"We can use the technology of the robots to help facilitate those interactions, the robot can go into a room of an adult and interact with their children at home," AdventHealth child life manager Chantelle Bennett told the network.