Through our ‘Wishes, Wants & Needs program’, Child Life teams can request items they “wish, want, or need” to support pediatric heart patients. We are proud that Angels for Hearts provided the first iPads to three hospital Child Life teams when iPads first came out. Earlier this year, we received not one request, but three separate hospital requests for items from the same company: The Butterfly Pig. This had never happened before, and it told us they were doing something special. UCSF Benioff, Lucile Packard, and Sutter Children’s Center all requested items. We recognized the name because we purchased The Butterfly Pig book for hospitals during the holidays, but we did not know the company is local to Elk Grove, California, and was founded by a pediatric oncology nurse. The Butterfly Pig empowers kids with unique medical needs through realistic, educational medical tools that explain medical devices and procedures in a kid-friendly way. The Butterfly Pig is a USA-based family business creating inclusive medical toys that support play, learning, and self-advocacy. Child Life teams use these items for play therapy because knowing what to expect can help reduce anxiety. We even found one of our heart families featured in one of their news stories.
