Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Units Receive Multimedia Makeover Thanks to the ‘Make Room for Kids’ Project

WHAT: The Cardiology Unit, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), and Trauma, Orthopedics and Neurosurgery Unit at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC are receiving a multimedia makeover thanks to Make Room for Kids, an extension of Austin’s Playroom Project, which is an initiative of the Mario Lemieux Foundation. Make Room for Kids is funded by social media and local Microsoft employees.

This year, Make Room for Kids multimedia donations will outfit the units with gaming and other electronics equipment. They will deliver 38 Xbox consoles, extra controllers, over 200 games and movies, eight Surface tablets, and more. Each patient room on the units will be outfitted so that all patients have access to gaming and other multimedia resources during their hospital stays.

Make Room for Kids was started by Ginny Montanez of the popular Pittsburgh blog That’s Church, who encouraged her readers to donate. To date, the project has raised more than $125,000 from blog readers, local Microsoft employees, and other generous donations. The Mario Lemieux Foundation got involved with this project as an extension of their Austin’s Playroom Project, a program where the Lemieux Foundation establishes playrooms in medical facilities.

Children’s Hospital’s hematology/oncology, transplant and adolescent medicine units, as well as the Children’s Home & Lemieux Family Center, have been outfitted with equipment and games by Make Room for Kids in previous years. These units will also receive additional games, movies and updated technology.

WHEN: 9 a.m., Friday, April 11

WHERE: Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, One Children’s Hospital Dr., 4401 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Note to Media: Media interested in attending should park in the hospital’s main driveway and meet in the lobby to be escorted to the event.