Healing Begins with Happiness™

Starlight delivers happiness to seriously ill children and their families. But what’s the correlation between happiness and healing?

On National Child Health Day, we’re reminded that each child deserves to be the healthiest he or she can be. Child Health Day is a United States Federal Observance Day held each year on the first Monday of October. It’s a national commitment to work to improve the health and well-being of America’s children and families.

Each of our main Starlight programs⁠—Starlight Hospital Gowns, Starlight Gaming, Starlight Hero Wagons and Starlight Toy Deliveries⁠—is graded based on clinical pillars of happiness and healing.

 For example, we strive to make sure our programs prove time and time again to have a high impact when it comes to entertainment, comfort, socialization, emotional support, and pain management, to name a few.

 Before a child has an IV placed or receive a shot, Starlight VR can be given to them. They have the chance to escape the four walls of a hospital room and travel to outer space. This is a stress reliever and pain reducer and it’s also simply just fun!

When 16-year-old, Artie, from New York, broke both his arms, the only thing that would keep his spirits up was playing on the Starlight Gaming console.

"It plays a pretty big role in recovery, by keeping yourself happy. It makes you more motivated, to push yourself and get up on your feet or move those elbows around," says Artie.

What Artie probably didn’t realize was that he was having fun while also doing physical therapy to strengthen his arms.

 And a child who gets the choice to pick out a super awesome Starlight Gown, rather than a typical, dull hospital gown, can feel comfort and support.

When four-year-old Addy was going in for open heart surgery, she was already scared and uncomfortable. Addy also has a sensory processing disorder, which means she is very sensitive to certain fabrics, tapes and touch.

The normal hospital gowns agitated Addy’s skin, but then she was given a Starlight Gown.

"Thank you, Starlight, for making my 4-year-old smile and help accommodate her sensory processing needs with these beautiful, buttery soft gowns. She smiled so bright!” said Stephanie, Addy’s mom.

Starlight Kids endure so much at such a young age, but one thing we can do is make sure their hospital experience is the best it possibly can be. By providing them the best in entertainment, technology and one-of-a-kind hospital spaces, we do just that.

Give happiness to kids like Artie and Addy on National Child Health Day. Because we truly believe, Healing Begins With Happiness™.