Going live: everything you should know about the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio
Long hospital stays can be tough for families, but at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital we believe healing sometimes requires a dose of fun.
Enter the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio.
The hospital’s in-house studio, also known as “ZTV,” broadcasts more than 30 shows monthly throughout the hospital – including many live, interactive options. In non-pandemic times, the space also hosts a variety of in-studio activities for children and teens.
The mission of the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio? Give patients and families a creative outlet using technology and media to help them process their hospital experience in a meaningful way. We spoke with Certified Child Life Specialist and ZTV coordinator Ashley Wunderlich to learn how the studio helps our patients and families learn, grow, and feel at home.
What is ZTV? Can you tell me more about the station, its in-hospital mission, and the station’s programming?
The goal of ZTV is to promote normal growth and development for children; create connections among patients and families; build self-esteem; and provide educational and therapeutic opportunities to learn, create, and grow while in the hospital. The studio is a creative outlet for patients of all ages and offers a fun distraction from hospital life, even if a child isn’t able to leave a hospital room.
The studio currently has more than 30 shows that rotate throughout the month, including The Morning Report, B.A.R.K Buddies (where patients meet our hospital facility dog and learn about animals), and other craft, cooking, and variety shows. ZTV also has live musical performances, trivia, bingo, and integrative health programming that features music therapy, nature-based therapy, and yoga – all so that patients learn new ways to cope with illness and hospitalization.
The Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio was brought to life in thanks to Jason and Carly Zucker and many other donors who believed in the need for this type of programming in the hospital. Everything that the studio does for patients is philanthropically funded. In addition to financial support, many donors of the studio have also participated in programming or donated their time to the studio.
Why is it important to have something like ZTV available at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital? How does the studio support the children and families under our care?
ZTV plays an important role in the daily lives of our patients and families. Hospitalization can be a stressful time for patients and families and ZTV is something that everyone can look forward to – Bingo Thursdays, for example! Not only does ZTV allow patients to connect to one another in a meaningful way and let children and teens just be themselves, it offers them opportunities to engage in activities even if they aren’t able to leave their room for medical reasons.
The Zucker Suite has partnerships with national groups such as Lollipop, Sunshine Associates, and Broadway Hearts, but also many local organizations in the Twin Cities such as American Swedish Institute, the Minnesota Orchestra and the University of Minnesota Arboretum. The studio creates camaraderie among patients, families and staff as patients look forward to seeing their hospital staff on-air and getting to engage with staff outside of their usual medical roles.
Outside of the need for distraction and developmentally appropriate education, ZTV offers patients screen time that doesn’t involve commercials or potential inappropriate content. The programming developed for ZTV considers the development of children and the effects medical needs and hospitalization and can have.
How are ZTV shows brought to life? Tell me about the creation process for each program – from brainstorming to daily filming.
Many of our ideas come from patients and what they want to see on ZTV, as well as content that they want to participate in.
Our three-person studio team uses our education and training as certified child life specialists to develop programming that meets the developmental and emotional needs of our patients. Our goal is to create shows that are educational, entertaining, and therapeutic – sometimes all three at once.
The studio team is always brainstorming new ways to bring therapeutic content to patients to help them cope with anxieties around hospitalization and illness, while still being fun and engaging. Many of our shows are not scripted and are partly driven by patients who can engage from their hospital rooms or by participating in studio. As child life specialists, we try to normalize the hospital environment and we are able to achieve this by offering shows that are similar to what patients would see on television – though we modify the topics and themes to meet the goals of our patients and families.
How have the studio, its staff, and its programming responded to the pandemic?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, our team has been focused on safety while meeting the increasing needs of patients and their family members.
In partnership with Child Family Life Services, ZTV is giving patients a safe and fun way to stay connected to hospital staff and other patients. We want to make sure that patients don’t feel like they’re alone in the hospital, which is why on many of our shows we allow patients to call in and interact with each other. We also recognize that children and families are facing new pandemic-related challenges and anxieties during their hospitalization, and we wanted to offer more opportunities to learn coping skills or find ways for siblings to still feel connected even though they can’t always visit due for safety reasons.
Though we don’t current offer in-studio opportunities, we do have resources to broadcast live from a patient’s room. We have also implemented new technology – including two hospital robots – and found new community partners to help us bring new and exciting experiences into the hospital – including in-theatre movie access and celebrity story time. Prior to the pandemic the studio had between six to eight shows a week. Now, the studio has nine shows a day – around 60 a week – some live and some pre-recorded that will continue even after our pandemic restrictions are lifted. With the increased programming, the studio has expanded our staffing thanks to the many generous donors to the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio.
The Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio is ZTV’s home, but the studio is used for other things beyond television programming. What other purposes does the studio serve?
The Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio provides a “suite” experience similar to what a family might get attending a sporting event or a concert. The suite experience allows patients who cannot participate in live events in the community to have a similar experience in the hospital. Patients can invite family and friends to the hospital and watch a Minnesota Wild game, a Minnesota Vikings game, or other event live in the studio. This is important for our long-term patients who may be immunocompromised and are not otherwise able to attend activities. It also encourages gives patients a chance to spend time with family and friends that they may not get to see often because of hospitalization. During our enhanced restrictions, the studio has not been able to host these suite experiences, but we are looking forward to resuming this experience when it is safe for our patients.
I have a ZTV story or programming idea that I’d like to share. How can I contact the studio team?
We love to hear about ideas that patients and families have, as well as, having patient and celebrity guest hosts! Best way to contact us is by email or phone: zuckersuite@zuckersuite.org or 612-365-0102. For additional information about the studio, please contact the studio coordinator: Ashley Wunderlich, awunder1@fairview.org
I’d like to contribute to ZTV or the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio How can I get involved as a volunteer or donor?
You can make a gift here, or start the process to become an M Health Fairview volunteer here. Make sure you mention the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast studio when submitting your volunteer application.
