Miracle Monday: Golisano Children’s Hospital integrates video games into treatment

Golisano Children’s Hospital has made video games an important part of treatment for young patients who badly need an escape from pain.

“When I’m gaming, I try not to bring up too much why they’re in the hospital,” said Adam Broome, the hospital’s patient technology specialist. “I try to just talk about, ‘Do we play this at home?’ Clearly, [Logan] does because he kicks my butt a lot in this game.”

Broome provides a welcome distraction from the real battle nine-year-old Logan Stryker is up against.

“They thought it was osteosarcoma because it looked like it was growing a bone type of thing on it, which is what osteosarcoma does, but it wasn’t only bone; it was also some other types of bone cancer because I’m pretty sure it makes it would make, like, different types of bone depending on what type of sarcoma was,” Logan said. “And since it was such a long name and it was a little bit hard to say, we came up with a new name: ‘Loganoma.'”

“Loganoma” means a lot of time spent at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Gaming helps pass the time, but that’s not all it does.

“It can be healing, you know—someone could be at a pain scale of eight, and I come in there, and I play Mario Kart, and they get frustrated, or they have fun, and they start laughing,” Broome said. “And their pain can go from eight down to a six or a five because we just have a good time, and they forget that they’re in the hospital.”

Broome also uses virtual reality to get patients moving again after procedures. Logan’s favorite game for physical therapy is one he looks forward to playing again when his shoulder heals from surgery.

Broome is one of only around 50 patient technology specialists in the U.S. His position is funded entirely by donations. If you shop at ACE Hardware anytime during April, you can round up your purchase at the cash register. That extra change goes directly to help Golisano through the Children’s Miracle Network.