Philadelphia's 'Please Touch' Museum Expands Its Hospital Play Area
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Children playing doctor at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia can now play with miniature, non-working X-ray and MRI machines.
Laura Foster, president and CEO of the museum, says that through the partnership they have with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia ("CHOP"), they have enhanced the hospital play area at the museum.
"It's really important that we partner with other organizations in the city that help children and families sometimes in different ways than we do," she said today. "There's a lot that we can learn from each other."
"So, it's just a little mini-CHOP, with an ambulance out front," says Madeline Bell, with CHOP. "And inside we have white coats and stethoscopes and pictures on the wall of what it looks like at CHOP."
Bell says it's important for children to be able to role-play experiences they might have in real life -- like going to the hospital.
"Play normalizes any experience, and it sort of demystifies doctors and hospitals," she tells KYW Newsradio. "So when they go to the doctor's office, they're familiar with some of the equipment."
