Chemotherapy treatments can be especially traumatic for kids and young people. There are needles, exhausting procedures, emotional pain that comes from isolation and anxiety, all of which could eventually result in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But with the new Infusionarium at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the treatment could be less abrasive (and actually be fun).
The New York Times took a closer look at the status of treatments and the new center’s approach:
According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly 16,000 new cases of cancer will have been diagnosed this year in infants and children up to 19 years old. On any given day, thousands of these young patients are receiving chemotherapy at outpatient infusion clinics. Children are also treated with infusions for other illnesses, including Crohn’s disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, sickle cell anemia and immune disorders.
The long-term impact can leave some patients with post-traumatic stress. “It can be horrific,” said Dr. Leonard Sender, medical director of the Hyundai Cancer Institute at the children’s hospital. “We should be doing better psychosocial work with them throughout their cancer experience, so they don’t feel like victims.”
Dr. Sender decided to really step back and think about what he would want his chemotherapy treatment to be like if he had cancer as a kid.
The result: Infusion treatment in combination with an aquarium.
So he contacted Roger Holzberg, a former creative director and vice president at Disney Imagineering, and also a former cancer patient. The Infusionarium was installed in July.
Its black curtains invite patients to peek inside, where pinlights woven into the fabric twinkle like starlight. With the communal feeling of a cozy theater, it has room for four treatment chairs and seating for visitors — an ad hoc area intended to make a permanent difference. It offers patients a menu of age-appropriate selections, allowing them to be happily distracted, engage with one another, or connect with friends and family. The treatment chairs provide access to five broadcast channels, including social media (allowing patients to Skype, check Facebook), video games and movies.
To refine the Infusionarium’s offerings, Mr. Holzberg interviewed patients. Younger boys, he found, preferred the Gene Wilder version of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” over animated films like “Cars.” Mr. Holzberg surmised that they wanted realistic entryways into an escapist world. “The live action helps connect them to real emotions,” he said. Some teenage boys, however, wanted their escape in extreme sports.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
For young kids and teenagers, it’s important for them to feel like they aren’t alone, like they are part of a community. For that reason, the Infusionarium is a place where they can socialize and feel connected to one another.
“We want to help them realize they’re all struggling with the same issues,” said Dr. Heather Hawthorne, an oncologist at the Orange County hospital. “If you can improve that, you can improve their whole cancer treatment. You take kids who would have crumbled and fallen to their disease and, instead, helped them use it to become strong, resilient people.”
When you allow kids to shift their focus from healing and treatment to mastering their favorite game on Xbox, the results can be significant. In fact, some young people could actually end up looking forward to treatment.
Currently, the Infusionarium is experiencing traffic jams from the increased interest and enthusiasm from young patients.
