Healthcare Technology Featured Article

December 05, 2012

Cisco Systems' Santa Connection Brings Santa Visits to Children in Hospitals throughout the Country


Whispering wishes for presents into Santa’s ear is a Christmas tradition for countless children. Children who are hospitalized during the holiday season won’t be able to travel with their parents to the traditional Santa-sighting spots like malls, lighting festivals and special brunches. Thanks to Cisco Systems, that these children won’t have to go without seeing Santa this year, nor will they have to worry that Santa will not be able to bring them their presents since they are in the hospital and cannot get their wish lists to him in person.

The Cisco Systems Santa Connection is an interactive experience that connects children at over thirty hospitals throughout the United States with Santa. Cisco uses its video collaboration technologies (Jabber for iPad or Cisco TelePresence mobile carts) to connect children by video to Santa at his workshop in the North Pole. The hospitals use iPads, Web-enabled cameras or video monitors to connect children to the North Pole from the playroom at the hospital and hospital employees can bring a mobile cart or iPad to those children who are not feeling strong enough to leave their rooms.

Among the hospitals included in the program are: John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Miami Children’s Hospital, Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, and Children’s National Medical Center. Although being in the hospital for Christmas is never ideal, Cisco’s Jabber and TelePresence technologies help provide the children at these hospitals with some sense of a normal Christmas, providing them with an experience that their friends and siblings may take for granted but that they greatly appreciate.

Cisco has been providing this special form of holiday cheer for five years, helping to make Christmas a brighter place for families who cannot celebrate the way that they would like to.




Edited by Rich Steeves
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