University Hospitals (UH) Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital is the nation’s first children’s hospital to use Augment Therapy, a new treatment option for physical therapists helping to get patients excited about physical activity.
A generous grant from the Carson Higgins Memorial Foundation supported the technology and hardware installation in all 21 patient rooms within the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute at UH Rainbow and the pediatric activity room and the teen lounge within the Andrew Uhrman Inpatient Unit at Angie’s Institute. The grant also supported two mobile carts, to give physical therapists the freedom to take Augment Therapy to the Angie’s Institute outpatient floor and other UH Rainbow floors.
Augment Therapy is designed to engage, motivate and monitor kids needing therapeutic exercise. Using an iPad connected to a TV, the patient is placed into an interactive world through the magic of Augmented Reality (AR). Therapists select from 35 different therapeutic exercises, games, and 3D worlds that motivate and engage kids to complete their session. Patients’ performance is monitored and tracked using the depth-sensing technology on compatible iPhone or iPad devices.
