San Diego Zoo Kids TV Channel Arrives at Beaumont Children's

Young patients, their families and invited guests were treated to a visit with some amazing animal ambassadors-including a blue-tongued skink, a lesser tenrec and a Sinaloan milk snake-today (Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018) at Beaumont Children's in Royal Oak, Mich. This special event celebrated the arrival of San Diego Zoo Kids, a closed-circuit television channel, now available at Beaumont Children's. San Diego Zoo Kids is an innovative television channel with programs produced primarily for medical facilities that serve pediatric patients and their families.

In 2013, Businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford funded the creation and development of the channel; and last year, the Institute of Museum and Library Services 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.

San Diego Zoo Kids' programming offers family friendly, entertaining and educational animal-oriented stories.

"We are thrilled to have this channel available for our patients and families," said Rosanna Morris, president, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. "I love animals and know how much joy they can bring to both children and adults."

The channel also features animal stories from Potter Park Zoo. "Potter Park Zoo is excited to partner with San Diego Zoo Global and Beaumont Children's to share heartwarming and educational stories about our animals with children who might not be able to visit our zoo," said Amy Morris-Hall, executive director of the Potter Park Zoological Society.

"Our mission to inspire conservation of animals and the natural world reaches beyond our zoo gates. We hope to inspire happiness and wellness in the families at Beaumont Children's." ?

The San Diego Zoo Kids channel offers up-close video encounters with animals, stories about caring for animals, quizzes about animals and habitats, and a wide variety of short video vignettes hosted by San Diego Zoo Global ambassador Rick Schwartz and San Diego Zoo Kids host Olivia Degn. Viewers can 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.

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

San Diego Zoo Kids debuted in 2013 at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. Since then, it has been installed in 167 children's hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses in 35 states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia, and in facilities in Mexico, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Qatar and Curaçao.

ABOUT BEAUMONT CHILDREN'S
Part of Beaumont Health, Beaumont Children's offers comprehensive health services for infants, children and adolescents in nearly every medical and surgical subspecialty with 80 pediatric subspecialists and 500 board-certified pediatricians. Facilities include the William and Marie Carls Children's Medical Center at Beaumont, Royal Oak, inpatient pediatric units in Dearborn, Troy and Farmington Hills, and outpatient locations throughout Metro Detroit. Pediatric services include emergency care, hematology-oncology, newborn and pediatric intensive care, pediatric and craniofacial surgery and two autism centers. Mothers deliver more than 17,000 babies every year at Beaumont hospitals. Beaumont Children's is Southeast Michigan's only Children's Miracle Network Hospitals affiliate. Find a Beaumont Children's pediatrician or specialist at beaumont.org/childrens, or call 855-480-KIDS (5437).

ABOUT POTTER PARK ZOO
Located in Michigan's capital city, Potter Park Zoo is an escape to nature with an aim to ?inspire the conservation of animals and the natural world. The zoo is home to ?nearly 600 individual animals?representing 160 species from all corners of the earth including critically endangered black rhinos, Amur tigers, and endangered red pandas, Massasauga rattlesnake and snow leopards. Potter Park Zoo is open 364 days a year to provide enriching educational experiences to our guests. ?For more information, please visit www.potterparkzoo.org

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES (IMLS)
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's approximately 120,000 libraries and 35,000 museums, and related organizations. Its mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. IMLS grant making, policy development and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive.

ABOUT IMLS COMMUNITY ANCHORS PROGRAM
IMLS promotes the role of museums as essential partners in addressing the needs of their communities by leveraging their expertise, knowledge, physical space, technology and other resources to identify and implement solutions. By strengthening museums' capacities for civic engagement, these projects contribute to the creation of livable, sustainable communities. IMLS welcomes applications for projects that empower museums to transform their roles in their communities from being community resources to being community catalysts. Museums have a role to play providing civic and cultural engagement, facilitating lifelong learning, promoting digital inclusion and supporting economic vitality through programming and services. IMLS encourages projects that demonstrate collaboration, adopt co-creating strategies and engage with a wide variety of cross-sector stakeholders to accomplish a sustained collective-impact goal.

ABOUT SAN DIEGO ZOO GLOBAL
Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is made accessible to children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in children's hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global.