Hospitals can be intimidating places for anybody.

That often goes double for children, who typically have only a vague notion of what goes on in the big building with all the doctors and nurses.

So Lawrence Memorial Hospital recently started a program, designed for Douglas County second- and third-graders, to help demystify the hospital experience for children.

During the two-week “Play Hospital” program, 500 students from nine schools visited the hospital for one-hour sessions. The hospital plans to offer the free program for a couple of weeks each spring, which is the time the hospital traditionally scheduled school tours.

Instead of touring children through the hospital’s departments, as the hospital has done for many years, this program allows students to dress up as parents, patients and health care professionals. They are able to role-play medical situations such as X-raying a broken arm or determining the source of a bad cough.

Children get to don surgical scrubs, wear stethoscopes and carry a lab technician’s instrument kit as they act out scripted scenes designed to teach them about various medical procedures.

Participants wear signs, dangling on strings worn around their necks, that identify roles such as “patient,” “anesthesiologist” and “X-ray technician.”

A rotating group of community education instructors, plus hospital volunteers, lead the sessions. They take place in a large meeting room at the hospital.

“We want to decrease the fear that some children might have about the hospital and provide some health education at the same time,” said Aynsley Anderson, the hospital’s community education coordinator. “It’s a chance for kids to come and find out what goes on here.”

Anderson and Alyson Leland, the hospital’s director of volunteer services, developed the new education program. It’s based on one used at Olathe Medical Center for several years.

“The previous hospital tours were led by our volunteer services, and they were wonderful, but the kids didn’t always get to see all the departments,” Anderson said. “We wanted something that was a little more participatory for the kids.”

Jane Fevurly, a registered nurse and Play Hospital facilitator, thinks the program’s first run of sessions went well.

“Kids really did listen to what was going on,” she said. “They pay attention and get more out of it if they’re also involved. That’s one of the top reasons I think it will be so successful.”

Cody Stine participated in a Play Hospital session on April 11, when his third-grade class from Tonganoxie Elementary School visited the hospital.

“They tell you what you can do in the hospital, and how they can help you,” said Cody, 9. “I also learned that you need to wash your hands after you eat, and you need to wear a (safety) helmet when you ride your bike.”

Holly DeMaranville, one of Cody’s classmates, also picked up some hospital tips.

“Don’t be scared,” the 9-year-old said, “and don’t put your hands in your mouth before you do surgery.”