FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2019

MEDIA CONTACTS: 
Elaine Schmidt                                                                         
UCLA Health                                                                            
310-267-8323                                                                          
eschmidt@mednet.ucla.edu                                 

San Diego Zoo Global 
Public Relations
619-685-3291
publicrelations@sandiegozoo.org 

MULTIMEDIA NEWS RELEASE

San Diego Zoo Kids TV Celebrates 200th Facility Milestone: Broadcasting Begins at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital

          A huge celebration took place at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital earlier today (March 7, 2019), complete with San Diego Zoo Safari Park animals—including a tamandua, a sloth, and a kinkajou—and a 15-foot-long lion puppet, and flamingo and giraffe puppets from the San Diego Zoo! The special event for patients, their families, hospital staff and invited guests was held to announce the arrival of San Diego Zoo Kids, a closed-circuit television adventure channel, at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California – making this the 200th launch event for the innovative television channel.

          The creation and development of the channel has been funded by businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford. In 2017, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded San Diego Zoo Global an outstanding Museums for America grant to bring San Diego Zoo Kids to 75 children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald House Charities facilities across the nation over the next three years. A generous grant from M&C Saatchi Los Angeles made the channel available on television monitors at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital.

          “Thanks to the vision of philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, children from around the world now have access to San Diego Zoo Kids,” said Debra Erickson, San Diego Zoo Global Director of Communications. “The channel fills a very important need during a child’s medical care, by providing distraction from treatment as well as comfort and happiness. We look forward to bringing its healing properties to another 100 facilities over the next year.”

           San Diego Zoo Kids features programs produced primarily for medical facilities that serve pediatric patients and their families. San Diego Zoo Kids furthers San Diego Zoo Global’s mission to inspire a passion for wildlife, and to bring the Zoo experience to young patients and their families during challenging times. Through partnerships with zoos, aquariums, and nature reserves around the world, children are transported to special places to meet amazing animals and experience their breathtaking habitats. Kids also meet the animals’ caretakers and learn how their charges overcome their medical challenges.

          “We are thrilled to collaborate with the San Diego Zoo in launching the Zoo Kids Channel for our youngest patients,” said Karen Grimley, chief nursing executive at UCLA Health. “When kids are too sick to go to the zoo, the zoo can come to them. This dovetails beautifully with UCLA Mattel Children Hospital’s mission to provide children with a healing environment where they can experience the joys of childhood, even when they’re in the hospital.”

          Since San Diego Zoo Kids debuted in 2013 at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego,  more than 40 hours of up-close video encounters with animals, stories about caring for animals, quizzes about animals and habitats, and a wide variety of short video vignettes have been produced for the channel. Viewers can also see best-of videos from the San Diego Zoo’s famous Panda Cam and other online cameras, as well as content from other zoos around the world.

          While today’s event celebrated the 200th facility to launch the channel, San Diego Zoo Kids has been installed in 212 children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses in 40 states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia, and in facilities in Mexico, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore and Curaçao.

ABOUT SAN DIEGO ZOO KIDS
San Diego Zoo Kids reaches out to millions of children each year who might not otherwise be able to experience the wonders of animals, plants and their habitats, with the goal of making nature accessible to children everywhere. As part of San Diego Zoo Global, an international nonprofit conservation organization that works to save plants and animals worldwide, San Diego Zoo Kids seeks to fight extinction by raising awareness, building respect and igniting a passion for wildlife and conservation among younger audiences. The San Diego Zoo Kids website (kids.sandiegozoo.org) provides a learning experience about animals, habitats and conservation for children anywhere. San Diego Zoo Kids provides free and discounted education programs in San Diego that meet LEAD standards for science curriculum and provides teacher training (kids.sandiegozoo.org/grownups). The San Diego Zoo Kids channel (sandiegozoo.org/kidsnetwork) broadcasts television programming in more than 175 children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses around the world, providing joy, comfort, laughter and learning to children and their families who are experiencing challenging times. To learn more, visit the links above or connect with us on Facebook and YouTube.

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