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Computers to link hospitalized children nationwide
October 31, 1997
Web posted at: 12:51 a.m. EST (0551 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A computer network that links children in seven hospitals across the country will be expanded to 100 hospitals starting in 1998, President Clinton announced Thursday.
Clinton was joined by Vice President Al Gore, director Steven Spielberg and retired Gen. Normal Schwarzkopf in announcing the expansion of Starbright World.
Spielberg is Starbright's chairman, and Schwarzkopf is its fund-raising chairman.
Schwarzkopf describes Starbright World as "a community for seriously ill children that allows them an opportunity to escape the often painful realities of their day-to-day lives."
Spielberg calls it a "virtual playground." Clinton said it will keep hospitalized children from being alone.
The interactive network will offer children video conferencing capabilities, audio and text chat spaces, e-mail, a 3-D virtual playground and an information center in which kids can get answers to medical questions.
The network was launched in November 1995.
In a live demonstration Thursday, Clinton and Gore spoke from Children's Hospital in Washington with a group of young patients at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
After playing some games on the network, some of the children held a mini-news conference, grilling the president about his favorite food and favorite sport.
One child asked Clinton if he had always wanted to be president. The president replied that he had not -- saying his childhood goals included becoming a musician, a doctor or a journalist.
Clinton said the Starbright network helps meet a challenge in his 1997 State of the Union address, when he called on the private sector to connect children's hospitals so that sick children can stay in touch with school, family and friends.
"Through linking kids in hospitals across the country, technology can connect the human mind and spirit in ways that we are just now beginning to understand," he said.
Related stories:
- Sick kids feel better by going online - March 24, 1997
- Seriously ill kids share feelings on-line - October 27, 1995
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