Santa Claus Makes a Cyber Stop at Cincinnati Children's

CINCINNATI, Dec. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Spending time in the hospital is no fun especially for sick children who miss home this holiday season. To try and bring some holiday cheer their way, inpatients at Cincinnati Children's received an interactive visit from Old St. Nick.

Cincinnati Children's, with the help of Cisco and CBTS, a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, brought a live feed of the North Pole to its patients – using either an iPad, or a video monitor and web-enabled camera.

 "We are helping kids connect in real time with Santa at the North Pole," said Joe Plagge, a senior analyst with the Telehealth team at Cincinnati Children's. "We use an iPad and we are able to do video calls back and forth so Santa can talk with patients and see them open their presents."

Santa's elves also brought presents that were on the children's Christmas lists.

"These are children who are here for a long period of time who have been told they have to be here over Christmas so it's a way for us to bring Santa to them without having to leave the hospital," said Sara Coe, a clinical assistant with Child Life and Integrative Care.

About Cincinnati Children's

Cincinnati Children's, a non-profit, pediatric, academic medical center established in 1883, is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation. It is one of the top three recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, ranked third in the nation among all Honor Roll hospitals in U.S. News and World Report's Best Children's Hospitals, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine. Its patient population includes the eight-county primary service area covering parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. A destination for children with complex medical conditions, it also served patients from all 50 states and nearly 70 countries during the past year. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org. Connect on the Cincinnati Children's blog, via Facebook and on Twitter.

About CBTS
CBTS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB). The company combines the data networking capabilities of Cincinnati Bell with next-generation managed services that provide companies with flexible solutions for end-to-end IT deployment. The CBTS business model can help organizations increase productivity and operational efficiency while reducing costs and risks through solutions that focus on business continuance, compliance, security, and technology infrastructure. For more information, visit www.cbts.net.

About Cisco Systems Santa Connection
During the 2016 holiday season, more than 30 hospitals throughout the US will participate in the Cisco Santa Connection Program. This interactive experience enables hospitalized children to remotely connect and communicate with Santa using Cisco's video collaboration technologies. Through the magic of the Internet, the children are connected over video directly to Santa's workshop in the "North Pole" where they can share their wish lists directly with Old St. Nick. After a personal conversation with Santa, children can join their families and enjoy a holiday party complete with gifts at the hospital. The Santa Connection Program was developed five years ago to provide children and their families a bit of holiday cheer and happiness during their hospital stay.

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SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center