June 25, 2010 | Members of the Arkansas National Guard worked alongside volunteers from the Psychiatric Research Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) this week to assemble playground equipment that will be used by patients of the psychiatric facility’s children’s inpatient unit.

The equipment, specially designed by Cunningham Associates of Charlotte, N.C.., for children with special needs, will be part of a playground under construction adjacent to the Psychiatric Research Institute. Scheduled to be completed in July, the playground will provide young patients with an opportunity to exercise as well be observed by the medical staff in a family-friendly setting.

“The playground and everything associated with it is considered therapeutic,” said Molly Gathright, M.D., the medical director on the children’s inpatient unit. “It will give children a place to work not only on such things as gross motor skills development but also social and interaction skills in an alternative setting. The playground and its therapeutic environment will be an important component integrated into the multidisciplinary team’s assessment process. Moreover, every child benefits from playing, learning to get along with others, and experiencing themselves outside.”

A rubberized surface will cover the playground’s entire 1,800 square feet to provide a safe playing environment. Patients as well as their parents will use the playground three times a day, supervised by the unit’s medical staff, Gathright said.

Many of the members of the National Guard who responded to an appeal for help with the playground did so because they have children or family members who have been diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses. Their commitment to the project is part of the reason it will be an unequivocal success, said G. Richard Smith, M.D., the Psychiatric Research Institute’s director and chairman of the UAMS Department of Psychiatry.

“The National Guardsmen, who came from all over the state, recognized the need for something like this, the only playground of its kind in Arkansas,” said Smith. “The playground and everything that goes along with it was made possible by a generous donation by Helen Porter and James T. Dyke, longtime supporters of our center, and we are extremely grateful to them as well as our volunteers.”

“The Psychiatric Research Institute is doing a good job of addressing these problems, of understanding how to help people cope with what they’ve experienced and why,” Porter said. “The playground makes me especially happy because I believe that play is a healing tool that has been forgotten, not just for children but adults, also.”