American Honda Motor Co and RPA / Youtube
At Children’s Health of Orange County, California, you need to be on the look-out for tots getting lab tests—because they’ll be tooting the horn at the wheel of their new electric Honda, which is bringing laughs and comfort to sick children.
Designed by Honda engineers to ease the stress and anxiety of hospitalized children, the car brought tears to their adult eyes when talking about its genesis.
Called the Shogo, it was specifically designed to navigate hospital hallways and transport all the IV drips and monitoring machines a child might require. It allows them to drive themselves down the hallways to their treatments; turning what could be a stressful journey into a fun joy ride.
“To see the joy on the faces of these young patients when they get behind the wheel of Shogo is truly rewarding,” said Hundy Liu, manager of national advertising at American Honda Motor Co.
Randall Smock, a senior exterior designer of vehicles for the company, played a significant role in the design of Shogo and called it a ‘labor of love.’
“As someone who spent time in the hospital as a young child, I really wanted the number one objective of Shogo to be easing the hardship of a hospital stay by providing kids a lasting positive memory about that experience.”
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One mom said, “I heard Charlie laugh harder than the whole time he’s been in the hospital, so hearing that laugh again makes me want to cry.”
Shogo, based on a Japanese word intended to mean “soaring into the future,” it was built to focus on young patients, ages 4 through 9, who can easily drive with its power controls, manage the go/stop mechanism on the steering wheel. It has an adjustable speed of 1-5 miles per hour, which is controlled by a handler such as a nurse or caregiver.
It includes a toy bucket in the front of the vehicle for items the child would like to bring along with them, cup holders, a center horn with different sound options, and a customizable license plate slot to display the name of each rider.
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Shogo also includes a push bar that offers caregivers the option to manually push the vehicle when needed.
All the fun was captured in a terrific video that won a Silver statue at the 2022 Clio Health Awards because it demonstrates the amazing impact that play and laughter can make in the life of sick kids.
WATCH the heartwarming video below…
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