St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Turns Scaring into Caring with Release of UnMonsters Game App

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Sep 16, 2016, 05:14 ET

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The hospital can be a scary place for anyone – especially children. Big machines, doctors in masks, and new places can seem like monsters to kids. But what if we could turn their fear upside down? St. Joseph's Children's Hospital is doing just that with the release of UnMonsters, a fun and unique game app, which is available for free via the App Store and Google Play.

St. Joseph's Children's Hospital's new UnMonsters game helps kids and parents understand that sometimes the things that scare us aren't so bad after all. The fun and unique app is available for free via the App Store and Google Play.

Sometimes, the best way to conquer our fears is to view things in a different way. St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa releases UnMonsters, a fun and unique game app available for free via the App Store and Google Play.

The game, which is set within St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, encourages players to wrangle four somewhat goofy monsters: Jitters, who is fast, shaky and a little...(is that pizza!?!)...distracted; Tizzy, who feels awkward around everyone, including himself; Fretta, the very definition of overly helpful and attached; and Ooz, a curious, slimy slug who multiplies out of boredom.

Players also can gather special medical "power ups" along the way. Future versions of the app will include game play with patients and additional power ups.

"Sometimes, the best way to conquer our fear is to view things in a different way," said St. Joseph's Children's Hospital President Kimberly Guy. "We hope that UnMonsters will give kids and parents a new way of looking at going to the hospital, because when we understand the things that scare us, the monsters don't seem so bad after all."

To create this new app, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital enlisted help from Haneke Design, an interactive design and development firm in Tampa, gathered input from hospital team members, and tested ideas with pediatric patients and their families.

"To our knowledge, this is the first hospital-based game app in the country," said Kim Marlatt, director of marketing for St. Joseph's Children's Hospital. "The app features one-of-a-kind graphics that were custom made specifically for the UnMonsters game."

Learn more about UnMonsters and download the free game app using your personal mobile device at UnMonsters.org.

About St. Joseph's Children's Hospital
As Tampa's only dedicated children's hospital, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital is committed to providing everything needed for the health and well-being of children. Part of the BayCare Health System, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital provides more acute medical and surgical pediatric care than all other hospitals in Hillsborough County. From the tiniest baby to the high school quarterback, patients are cared for by doctors who specialize in treating children, in surroundings designed exclusively for kids.

About BayCare Health System
BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 14 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit www.baycare.org.

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SOURCE St. Joseph's Children's Hospital