SASKATOON -- At Jim Pattison Children's Hospital, Violet Revet carefully presses down the plunger of a syringe. Globs of bright yellow paint come out the other end, injecting some colour into her artwork.

Because of a rare metabolic disease, the 10-year-old is often at the hospital.

After a recently scheduled surgery was cancelled. Violet was given the option to have a day pass and leave the hospital but wanted to stay.

"She said, I don't want to go and I said you can pick anywhere you want to go. Violet said I want to go to the playroom," her mother Jennifer Yanke said in an interview.

Violet painting

In the Child Life Zone, painting with a syringe is just one of the ways Violet and other young patients learn about the instruments they might encounter while in hospital. It's also a place just to have fun.

"The zone is supposed to be that place where children can escape that hospital environment. Here is a space where kids can continue that normal developmental play, the socializing that they are really missing out on being stuck in a hospital,” said Dominique Rust, manager of the Child Life Zone.

The playroom, funded by the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation, includes a popular musical element inspired by the country star himself with guitars and a piano for kids to play.

"The anxiety isn't there and she's having fun instead of thinking about doctors and needles," Yanke said.

MRI ready

Another program offered in the Child Life Zone helps kids learn more about Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, a procedure that can be scary for young patients.

As a result, children are often anesthetized before undergoing an MRI.

The challenge of scheduling an MRI and an anesthesiologist has led to an 18-month waiting list for the scan. More than 400 kids get MRIs under anesthetic each year.

However, the more prepared kids are for the scan, the more likely they are able to undergo the procedure without anesthetic.

JPCH MRI VR

"We work with them to provide some preparation, some education, so they are able to do their MRI scan awake," Rust said. The program is the first of its kind in Canada.

Young patients who are slated for an MRI use virtual reality goggles to help them become familiar with the process.

The virtual scenario walks kids through every step of getting an MRI, from checking in at the front desk to the actual scan inside the machine.

Also, kids get a chance to listen to the sounds the machine makes which can be frightening, making it difficult to sit still long enough to complete a scan.

 “If we can do the MRI without the anesthetic hopefully down the road it can save time. We can have more patients access the service in less time,” said Dr. Mateen Raazi, provincial head of anesthesiology.