Starlight Virtual Reality Wins at the 4th Annual Shorty Social Good Awards
Last year, Starlight Children’s Foundation celebrated a win at the Shorty Social Good Awards for the Design-A-Gown Contest, and we are thrilled to announce that we won for the second year in a row: this time, for Starlight’s Virtual Reality!
The Shorty Social Good Awards is an international awards program that honors the impactful work organizations are doing. It was created to raise global awareness around influential brands, agencies and nonprofits and the work they do to make the world a better place.
Starlight VR won a Gold distinction in the Virtual Reality category under Shorty’s Video Content classification. We’re proud to join other honorees in our category, including The Magic Snow Globe by RPA, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and X-Ray Fashion by MANND, Connect4Climate, Vulcan Productions, Alcantara, Molamil and Awe.
Since 2018, Starlight has delivered 1,371 Starlight VR headsets to 310 hospitals in the US with an estimated impact on 18,927 children in 48 states.
Starlight VR is a groundbreaking program with 20+ pre-loaded games and apps that help distract kids during difficult medical procedures and help them relax, laugh, and just have fun. Although designed primarily for entertainment and distraction, hospitals are using VR in a variety of clinical interventions that provide real health benefits and positive medical outcomes:
VR enables medical professionals to use the headsets as a procedural tool for critically ill young patients, primarily to reduce anxiety during mild to moderately painful procedures.
VR is a calming distraction, and many patients have been able to undergo potential complicated or painful procedures while awake, cutting down lengthy recovery times, and reducing the need for medication.
In certain circumstances, VR can be used in place of general anesthesia to help tolerate pain.
Last but not least, Starlight VR has a normalizing effect on seriously ill children because it helps an unfamiliar and often scary place, such as a hospital, feel safe and fun – or “normal.”
Learn more about Starlight Virtual Reality or donate this holiday season to Give Happiness to seriously ill kids.
