A Place to Play During Hospital Stay

Five-year-old Joey barely noticed the adults in the Chase Place playroom at Childrens Hospital because he was too busy playing checkers.

Seated at a specially designed table one recent morning, the young patient strategized his next move, forgetting for the moment the reason he was in the hospital.

Across the room, Robin and Susan Richards, the Calabasas couple whose foundation funded the hospital’s two brightly colored playrooms, smiled as they watched the boy lose himself in the game.

“We sometimes forget that children can’t always communicate the psychological pain and confusion they feel when they’re in the hospital,” said Robin Richards, an executive for an Internet music business. “These kids need a haven in which they can express these feelings, a room that’s magical and fun.”

The spacious playroom boasts a “doctor’s table,” complete with dolls and bandages and IVs; a play kitchen in which they can pretend to prepare their special meals; an art corner equipped with an easel and paints; and a quiet spot for reading and games.

Medical collages--canvases filled with latex gloves, tongue depressors and bandages--decorate the walls. The doctor’s table is equipped with two dolls, one with hair, the other without. They are used to act out surgeries and treatments that are frightening to the youngsters.

“The program helps children have an accurate understanding of what’s happening to their bodies and in their lives as a result of the intrusive, painful and frightening experiences that can be part of medical treatment,” said Margie Wagner, former director of the Child Life program at Childrens Hospital.

The Richardses’ devotion to hospitalized children stems from losing their 2-year-old son, Chase, to a malignant brain tumor seven years ago.

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“The day he died, my husband said, ‘I’m not going to have this child’s life be for nothing,’ ” said Susan Richards, a homemaker.

The Richardses, who have three daughters, established the Chase Foundation in 1993. The nonprofit organization has raised thousands of dollars to build and maintain the Chase Place rooms, and to pay for the trained staff that counsels patients and their families.

The Chase Foundation will hold its fourth “Art from the Heart” fund-raising auction tonight at 7 at the Four Seasons Hotel. The Richardses expect to raise about $400,000 from the sale of artwork by notables such as Robert Graham, Dennis Hopper and Frank Gehry.

“This project has been very rewarding for me,” Robin Richards said. “It started out as therapy for me, but as time’s gone by, I’ve ended up with the primary benefit being that I’m a better human being.”

For information about the Chase Foundation, call (818) 222-7507.

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