San Diego Zoo Expands TV Channel To Long Beach Hospital

SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego Zoo announced Thursday it will expand its closed-circuit TV channel for kids at the MemorialCare Miller Children's and Women's Hospital in Long Beach.

The TV channel, San Diego Zoo Kids, is funded by South Dakota businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford and is geared toward medical facilities that provide care for pediatric patients.

According to the zoo, the channel will include entertaining and educational shows about terrestrial and aquatic animals alike. The zoo is also partnering with the Aquarium of the Pacific to produce shows for the channel.

"We are thrilled to partner with the San Diego Zoo to bring unique educational experiences to our patients," said Miller Children's and Women's COO Tamra Kaplan. "Through our long-standing collaboration with the Aquarium of the Pacific, we know these types of activities serve as a positive distraction from hospitalization and have a direct impact on the recovery of our patients."

The zoo launched the channel in 2013 at San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital and has since expanded to 181 children's hospitals and medical facilities in 36 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Qatar and Curacao.

San Diego Zoo Kids includes livestreamed shows where kids can call and interact with the hosts, best-of videos from the zoo's panda cam, quizzes about animals and their natural habitats and video shorts featuring San Diego Zoo Global Ambassador Rick Schwartz and San Diego Zoo Kids host Olivia Degn.

"We continue to be humbled by the healing properties of San Diego Zoo Kids," said San Diego Zoo Global Director of Communications Debra Erickson. "Parents and caregivers share that the channel, which has no commercials or inappropriate content, not only calms children but makes them happy."

By City News Service

Photo taken on Nov. 29, 2018 by Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoo Global