Three-year-old Kora Steurer led the way to the future as she cut the ribbon on a room known as a Bright Space at WVU Medicine Children's Hospital.
Bright Spaces are designed to provide children experiencing trauma a place of comfort and security. The room, located on the seventh floor of the new hospital, has been designated as a "safe space" for siblings of children, who are hospitalized, to engage in dramatic play, reading, art, and other natural ways to express their emotions, while having a sense of normalcy. WVU Medicine's Bright Space is the first in the state of West Virginia.
Kora is the daughter of Kevin Steurer, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit manager at Children’s, and Kayla Steurer, a WVU Medicine Children’s certified nurse midwife. Kora’s baby twin brother and sister, Kamden Steurer and Katie Steurer, were also at the event, along with WVU Medicine and WVU Medicine Children’s employees and administrators.
Over the past few years, teachers and families at the WVU Medicine Child Development Center partnered in fundraising for the Bright Space. Efforts, such as an art auction and Festival of Trees "penny wars," helped raise nearly $7,000 for this space. Learn more about Bright Spaces.
Below are some photos from the ribbon-cutting event.
