Kickoff event: UCSF Children's Hospital partners with SF botanical garden

WHAT UCSF Children’s Hospital will host a special “garden party” event to kickoff a new partnership between the Child Life Department’s School Program – part of the San Francisco Unified School District – and the San Francisco Botanical Garden. The cornerstone of the collaboration is a new teaching garden and outdoor classroom at the hospital that will help young patients connect with plants and the environment. The event will feature garden-oriented activity stations, a reading by UCSF Children’s Hospital executive director Roxanne Fernandes, and a ceremonial planting to mark the occasion. WHEN Monday, June 15, 2009, 1-2 p.m. WHERE UCSF Children’s Hospital 505 Parnassus Ave San Francisco, CA 94143 WHO UCSF Child Life teachers, patients and their families, and Children’s Hospital leadership CONTACT Media interested in attending should contact Kate Schoen at [email protected] or (415) 476-2557 to arrange entry to the Children’s Hospital. On the day of the event, contact Kate Schoen at (415) 672-6875. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The new partnership between UCSF Children’s Hospital and the SF Botanical Garden will give hospitalized children the chance to observe and record scientific observations about plant growth and engage in garden-related art and journal activities. The UCSF Child Life Department works closely with children and their families to ensure that each child's developmental and emotional needs are met during a hospital stay. One of the nation’s top children’s hospitals, UCSF Children’s Hospital creates an environment where children and their families find compassionate care at the healing edge of scientific discovery, with more than 150 experts in 50 medical specialties serving patients throughout Northern California and beyond. The hospital admits about 5,000 children each year, including 2,000 babies born in the hospital.