Bridget Lee, Marketing Coordinator, San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum

Approximately 30 million emergency room visits are made by children annually in the United States. Whether you are taking a child to the emergency room or for a visit to the doctor, the fear around new places, faces, and experiences can be terrifying for a child. For children who are scared of visiting the doctor, knowing what to expect can be a big help. At a young age, our imaginations run wild with the unknown, placing ourselves into a situation much worse than it actually is. San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum wants to break that stigma. 

San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum’s new exhibit, Healthcare Heroes, presented by Palomar Health, provides experiences that demystify and calm fears around healthcare for children and encourages them to live a healthy lifestyle while learning about their bodies. Through interactive displays with real medical tools, onsite educational programming, online videos, and more, children, as well as parents, will gain a better understanding of the importance of taking care of their bodies. Our onsite Daily Programs highlight how staying healthy and active can be fun, how germs can easily be washed away, and how vegetables can make bodies strong. 

Healthcare Heroes also introduces children to different medical professions ranging from a nurse, doctor, and administrator. Young guests will put on white coats and become the doctor as they take new friends through the hospital journey starting with an ambulance ride to an exam room, a choice of specialist rooms, and a discharge station. Along the way children will be introduced to a wide range of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) concepts by completing tasks appropriate to the injury chosen at the beginning of their hospital journey. 

“We wanted to create an exhibit in partnership with Palomar Health that would both be fun and educational for families that teaches kids who to identify as the heroes while at the doctor,” said Krishna Kabra, CEO of San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum. “Through STEM fluencies, such as spatial reasoning and symbolic language, children will walk away with real life skills and feel empowered to make important decisions about their body during their next visit to the doctor. ”  

Guests can step into the world of doctors and nurses at the Museum until November 2022, after which the exhibit will find permanent residence in the pediatric ward at Palomar Hospital. Enjoy HealthcareHeroes, free with Museum admission. For more information visit, SDCDM.org/HealthcareHeroes