- TCS Lidingöloppet
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Industry
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Patient-centered Care: Health and Wellness Redefined
Highlights
- It’s not just the runners at TCS Lidingöloppet that TCS supports — each year it also uses its connection with the event to support Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital.
- The hospital has used the funds for state-of-the-art technology to improve children’s stays.
- TCS’ donations are bringing play and inspiration to the hospital wards.
Running for a cause
As well as support the thousands of runners who compete at TCS Lidingöloppet each year, TCS also uses its connection to the event to support Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital.
The Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, a part of the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, is a long-standing Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) partner at the event.
Over the course of several years, TCS has donated funds to support children’s health through the hospital. This includes helping the hospital acquire technology to support a sensory room and a play therapy ward, as well as modern and interactive audio-visual equipment.
Healing through play
A hospital visit can be a stressful experience, especially for a child.
TCS’ donations are helping improve that experience by bringing play and inspiration to the wards.
The hospital has been able to create a sensory room that allows children to ‘be in the moment’ and think about something other than their illness for a while. There is also a mobile sensory experience for children who cannot access the room.
Sound cushions, for example, are used in various treatments, allowing children to listen to music or fairy tales. And TCS funds have also supported an interactive projector wall in the hospital’s play therapy department.
When times are tough, this can be an important part of the recovery process, says Charlotte Elf, unit manager at Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital.
“Play heals. We see examples of that every day,” she says.
At Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, we treat severely ill children daily. Thanks to the joyful surroundings and the many different activities available, the children are much happier.
Technology for good
Another way TCS’ donations are enabling the hospital to benefit from technology is through the AV1 robot – a sort of digital classroom assistant.
The small robot enables children to join in with schoolwork and talk to school friends and teachers from their hospital bed using microphones, cameras and speakers.
The robot is also able to convey – using lights in its eyes – how the student is feeling.
TCS gives employees at the hospital the chance to join the race free of charge. Specialist nurse Ulrika Skogeland is one of those that is taking up the offer this year.
“Running and doing physical activity together with your colleagues means that we have something in common outside of work. We also become healthier and feel better as a result,” she says.
Helping communities
TCS’ support of the hospital is part of its wider commitment to create generational improvement and large-scale societal impact through technology and innovation.
This commitment includes building community partnerships and multi-year programmes which have a clear impact. Supporting health and wellness is a key pillar of this action, particularly among youth, women, and marginalised communities.
It requires pulling on TCS’ technological expertise and contextual knowledge to create innovative solutions as well as TCS employees themselves giving their time and skills.
“At Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, we treat severely ill children daily. Thanks to the joyful surroundings and the many different activities available, the children are much happier,” says Svante Norgren, Theme Manager, Children’s and Women's Health.
“The donations that TCS has given to the hospital have helped us to provide hundreds of sick children with important support for a normal life.”
Supporting children's health
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