‘Our Space’ for teens debuts at Inova Loudoun Hospital

Teens admitted to Inova Loudoun Hospital’s pediatric wing now have a place to call their own – Our Space, a teen room within the pediatric unit that offers a place to hang out, read, challenge the Wii games, shoot some hoops and play table soccer or hockey.

A $50,000 donation from Cole’s Closet, the Tomczyk family’s decade long campaign to make life happier for children admitted to the hospital, made Our Space a reality. Their son Cole, born in June 1999, spent 76 days of his 186-day life in hospitals. Cole’s closet started in 2002 with a toy drive at a Tomczyk family holiday party. Since then, it has donated toy closets seven area hospitals, including Inova Loudoun. It is thanks to Cole’s Closet that all 14 pediatric rooms, which are home at least temporarily to 15,000 children a year, at Inova Loudoun Hospital have a PlayStation 3. Gifts to the Loudoun pediatric wing alone include 40 PlayStations, five rocking chairs, nine DVD players and 30 DVDs, a virtual aquarium, $10,000 to renovate the playroom and numberless toys.

“My goal for this room is just for kids to have fun,” said Jessica Comfort, Certified Child Life Specialist. “A space for the older kids [the pediatric wing admits patients from infancy through 21] to get out of their rooms, to try to escape and forget everything that is going on, maybe meet some other kids.”

When Comfort came on board last December, the space that is now the teen room was a family lounge. It had chairs and couches, “not child friendly at all.” Plans were already afoot to convert the lounge to a teen room, so she and colleague Samantha Leahy, the unit’s other Certified Child Life Specialist, put their heads together and came up with the Hawaiian theme -- unisex appeal -- and ordered the games.

Last Tuesday, June 14, Ellen Tomczyk and Jenn Bukovak, whose son Stephen died when he was eight and who contributed to the teen room, cut the ribbon to Our Space and patients put it right to use. The teen room offers patients age 13 and older an arcade-style basketball game, large-screen TV equipped with Wii, library, table hockey and soccer, computer and printer with wireless Internet available, and “hang out” chairs and a phone.

Maybe best of all the teen room overlooks the hospital’s helipad. Youngsters can take a break from Wii or basketball and watch the helicopters land and take off.

Katherine Moore, 13, of Centerville checked into the pediatric wing a few hours before the 7 p.m. grand opening and got to play some table hockey with her mom before being hustled off for some tests. She was back the next day for some basketball after a trip to X-ray.  She said she “really likes the Wii, and I really like Mario Kart, I have that at home, too.”

Decorating and equipping Our Space, even including contracting with Jarrett Ferrier at the Schwa Design Group to create and install the Hawaiian-style décor, used less than a fifth of the Cole’s Closet donation, Comfort said. The rest will be used to brighten up other parts of the hospital where her young patients spend time.

“We would not be as great as we are without Cole’s Closet,” said Sonya Sterbutzel, director of pediatric patient care. “Cole’s gave us $10,000 for the toddler play room for younger children, $50,000 for the teen room, all the PlayStations, coffee every month for the parents’ lounge, toys for the terminally ill. This gives us space for the older children to have, to have a space away from the room to hang out and feel more normal, to take friends who visit.”

The plaque on the door dedicates Our Space to Cole Tomczyk and Stephen Bukovac. June 14, the day of the ribbon cutting, would have been Cole Tomczyk’s 12th birthday.

Cole’s Closet has drop off points for toy donations throughout the area. Go to http://colescloset.org for more information or to get involved.