Contact: Media@BannerHealth.com

GLENDALE, Ariz. (Oct. 16, 2017) – Surgery can be scary for anyone, but especially a child. 

To make the trip to the operating room a bit less stressful and a little more fun, Banner Thunderbird will be unveiling two miniature, battery-powered vehicles that will transport children from their patient beds to the operating room table. The cars are controlled via remote control by nurses or other employees assigned to escort the kids to the pediatric surgery room.

A brief ceremony unveiling the cars will be held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, Oct. 17, at the hospital, 5555 W. Thunderbird Road in Glendale.
The ceremony will include brief remarks from employees who worked on securing the cars – a pink Jeep and a red sports car – and a driving demonstration of the vehicles by two children.

“Kids are often terrified of going to surgery, so we wanted to offer something that would be a fun distraction for them,” said De Anne Jones, nursing manager of Banner Thunderbird Perianesthesia Services, which led the unique project.

A group of employees in the surgery department at the hospital purchased the cars thanks to a generous donation from two local businesses, Creepy Crawly Pest Control and Tim Parker of Re/Max Professionals.

Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona, specializes in heart care, surgical services, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency and trauma care, behavioral health, cancer care, rehabilitation and pediatrics, including the West Valley’s only pediatric intensive care unit, pediatric Emergency department and Level III neonatal intensive care unit. Banner Thunderbird also operates a Level I Trauma Center for patients ages 15 and older. The hospital is part of Banner Health, a nonprofit health system with 28 hospitals in six states. For more information, please visit www.BannerHealth.com/Thunderbird.