Hockey Hall of Famer LaFontaine puts charity
first
Reprinted with permission of: SPORTING NEWS
September 26, 2006
By Kara Yorio
It's a gorgeous fall day and you're inside. Not
just inside, but inside a children's hospital.
Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Westchester,
N.Y. isn't your average dreary medical center.
It looks like a giant house and has well-lit,
wide hallways as well as dolls, a train and a
fire engine, among other things, to help pass
the time. It also has a Lion's Den, the
brainchild of former NHLer Pat LaFontaine, who
didn't just have the idea, he made it happen.
The Lion's Den is a place for kids to go and
forget they are patients for a few minutes a
day. There are video games and computers and a
big-screen TV. Kids can check e-mail, get
homework, IM a friend, contact a teacher, simply
keep connected to their former world which seems
so far away once inside those hospital doors.
There is a personal pod-like area that allows
for video conferencing. Your child is in the
hospital, possibly fighting for his life, but
those bills must be paid, so you're on a
business trip. Phone calls are great, but how
about heading down to the hotel's business
center and setting up a 'face-to-face'
conversation with your son or daughter? Or maybe
there's an athlete or entertainer a child really
wants to meet, but that person can't get to the
hospital. Five minutes in a video conference
(recorded on a DVD) gives a child a day he'll
never forget.
As technology grows, the Lion's Dens
capabilities will grow. As LaFontaine's network
of athletes and entertainers grow, the ability
to make a scared and hurting child smile will
explode exponentially but be done with ease. How
difficult is it to sit in front of a camera and
say hello to a child having a much harder day
than you? What about a quick post-game Q&A with
some kids for a local athlete? Anything's
possible and LaFontaine is constantly thinking
of more.
LaFontaine calls his Hall of Fame hockey career
"a stepping stone," which is not exactly the
typical view of a professional athlete. And
while you may find LaFontaine on a golf course
in his retirement, you can be sure that more
often than not, there is a charitable connection
to his round of 18.
Charity is his passion and his full-time
profession since retirement, with the exception
of a short stint this summer as an advisor in
that crazy world known as the New York
Islanders.
LaFontaine's principal endeavor is his
foundation, Companions in Courage. It all
started with a 12-year-old boy named Robert when
LaFontaine was playing for the Sabres.
LaFontaine played video games with Robert in a
Buffalo hospital a few times a week and will
always remember a nurse breaking down into tears
and telling him those visits were the only times
Robert smiled. It wasn't long after that
conversation that Robert died, but what he and
those hours spent playing video games taught
LaFontaine has led to an amazing realization.
LaFontaine saw what a little time and
distraction could do. It didn't save Robert, but
it gave him something to look forward to and a
few moments of fun. And that is as good as it
gets in some situations.
Now LaFontaine wants to give every sick kid a
little distraction, a little fun, a few moments
to forget about what ails them. The Lion's Den
is a place kids can go without being hassled by
adults of any kind -- doctors, nurses or
parents. This is a place where they can forget
they are sick and be a regular kid. Once they
walk through those doors, they become members
for life, hopefully creating a future network of
kids who have recovered who can check back later
in life and help someone going through the same
thing.
That network is one small part of LaFontaine's
bigger vision. With the right help, it's also
attainable. LaFontaine wants Lion's Dens in
every children's hospital in the country. He's
looking at Ronald McDonald House as his guide,
saying it took 32 years to get 212 Ronald
McDonald Houses up and running today.
He's hoping there's a corporation out there that
would want to take control of the financing.
He's hoping for a Google Lion's Dens or Dunkin
Donuts Lion's Dens, whatever. Maybe the NHL will
want to put one in every NHL city. Maybe a
person or organization will want to help fund
one for a local hospital. It doesn't matter.
Whoever wants to put up the $500/square foot to
give sick kids a break from sickness is welcome.
Right now, there are two rooms open (one in
Westchester, N.Y., and one at Women and
Children's Hospital in Buffalo). A Lion's Den at
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in Manhattan
is set to open in November.
The room is Westchester is the smallest
Companions in Courage will do, but it's still
effective. Recently it had to be shut down for a
security fix and the kids were constantly asking
when it would reopen. The Buffalo room is more
than two and a half times the size of the room
in Westchester. And what a difference from what
there was before -- a TV and VCR on a rolling
cart. Sabres owner Tom Golisano helped fund the
room in Buffalo. In LaFontaine's words, Golisano
"gets it." The former NHLer is looking for more
people or companies who get it, too.
Companions in Courage wants to work out the
kinks in these three rooms and be ready for
whoever might call when word gets around that
not only are these rooms available, but also
what they have done for kids.
The modular design is easy to install. Microsoft
provides the software and Cisco handles the
routers and switches. Each hospital can gear the
room to whatever age group it wants. In Buffalo,
it's focused for younger kids, with an arts and
crafts table added to the high-tech fun. In
Westchester, it's for kids 10-16 or so.
Right now, the rooms shut down at night so the
kids can get their rest. In those evening hours,
LaFontaine wants to turn the children's Lion's
Den into a resource center for anxious parents.
"Information is comforting," he says.
So is knowing that your child, burdened with a
serious illness, has a smile on his or her face.
LaFontaine knows that not every story has a
happy ending; he knows that from personal
experience with his friend Robert in Buffalo.
But there is comfort for the parents knowing
there were smiles in those final weeks, and even
some unforgettable moments.
For the families that lose a child, LaFontaine
hopes parents can keep a DVD of their child
talking to their favorite singer or athlete in a
Lion's Den. He wants them to see the excitement
and joy in their kid's eyes and somehow hope it
eases the pain a little.
For those kids who walk out the door healthy
with a future to look forward to, LaFontaine
hopes the Lion's Den provided some help for the
mental battle that is part of every physical
one.
Doctors have told LaFontaine there is no medical
reason a certain patient is still alive. Could
the ability to stay in touch with the outside
world play a part in that recovery?
LaFontaine doesn't know, but he doesn't dismiss
it as impossible. He's hoping to offer that
opportunity and possibility to sick kids
everywhere.
|
