Community

Kiwanian unveils new playroom for patients at NUMC

Hospital's pediatric unit features areas for toddlers, teens

Posted

It took three years to see the results of his efforts, but for Dr. Steven Perrick, it was worth the wait.
   
On Sept. 9, Perrick cut the ribbon to the new playrooms at the Nassau University Medical Center's Pediatric Unit. Perrick, a past president of the Kiwanis Club of East Meadow, was joined by fellow Kiwanians and NUMC staff members to celebrate the unveiling of the rooms, one designed for kids and the other for teenagers.
   
The playrooms were a result of Perrick's presidential project, a tradition for Kiwanian leaders. He led an effort to raise $6,000 for the modernization of an area that described as barren and outdated.

   
"The kids need it," Perrick said. "It makes their hospital stay more pleasurable for everybody."
  
Perrick, a pediatrician with an office in Westbury, served as East Meadow Kiwanis president in 2007.
  
One of the rooms is designed for children under 14 years old. It includes a playing area stocked with safe toys, dolls and board games. Next door, for teenagers older than 14, includes several portable video game stations, a combined ping pong/billiards table, a dart board, a television and a couch. Most toys and games were collected through donation drives and fundraisers.
   
The rooms provide a haven for young children and teenagers so they can relax and take their minds off of pain, sickness or ailments.
  
Jim Mancuso, who is working on his own presidential project, explained that Perrick recognized a need, addressed it, and delivered.

"This is the kind of stuff we do," said Mancuso, current East Meadow Kiwanis president. "It's another example of people seeing need in the community."
   
Linda Walsh, NUMC's director of therapeutic recreation and president of the NUMC Kiwanis chapter, said the new children's play area replaces a room that included a play kitchenette from the 1970s.
   
"It served its time," Walsh said of the old room. "It's great for the kids to be able to crawl around and have fun.”