Thanks to a successful application from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity, the amazing patients and staff of Ward 8 at Royal Preston Hospital are among 600 lucky recipients worldwide of a special LEGO MRI scanner.
The charity submitted an application to receive one of the sets, designed to help children cope with MRI scans, and make them less scary.
A team at Odense University Hospital and volunteer LEGO employees teamed up to make MRIs more playful and less stressful, designing a LEGO brick model of an MRI scanner, in the hope that by playing with it before their scans, guided by hospital staff, children get a feel for the room they’ll be in and the machine they’ll face.
And, by putting a LEGO minifigure through the model scanner first, children can take control and learn what to expect at the same time.
Dan Hill, Head of Hospital Charities said: “We are delighted to be one of the chosen recipients of the rare LEGO MRI Scanner, which will be used to prepare young patients for their scans. Thank you to The LEGO Foundation for this generous donation, it will be a great addition to our Children’s Ward!”
Nicola Entwistle, Matron for Children and Young People at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust added: “An MRI scan can be a daunting experience for children, so we will use the LEGO model to help prepare our paediatric patients for their scans and reduce their stress and anxiety levels. Then, when it comes to the real thing, it's less scary.”
Play is a natural way for children to develop their social and emotional skills. It helps children find moments of calm and control, no matter what’s happening around them.
The scanner is designed to take away some of the worry and uncertainty that naturally comes with having a medical procedure for the first time, helping children build their confidence. And, in the process, it could even mean doctors can reduce the use of anaesthesia on children.
Ulla Jensen, Department of Radiology at Odense University Hospital, explained the idea: “MRI Scanners are huge machines. They also make a lot of noise which can be very daunting for children. Our team have found that use of models such as the LEGO models has led to more positive, calm experiences for many children. This benefits the child, their family and also the quality of the MRI scan, which relies on the person being very still for up to an hour to work."
Erik Ullerlund Staehr, Chemical Technician at The LEGO Group and volunteer of the project, added: "I’ve seen first-hand how children have responded to the LEGO models: making them feel more relaxed and turning an often highly stressful experience into a positive, playful one."
