Seris stands for monkey

Through its campaign“SERIS stands for ‘aap’” (meaning “monkey”), SERIS, in collaboration with Rotterdammers4rotterdammers (R4R) and the Friends of Sophia Foundation, is supporting the pediatric thoracic center at Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital. The team of doctors and researchers at the Pediatric Thoracic Center has one big wish: to establish a So Fit and Fun Center. Will you help us make this happen?

For the children who come to the Pediatric Thoracic Center, sports and vigorous play are less of a given, but all the more important. It promotes heart, lung, and muscle health, as well as healthy growth and development. To allow them to exercise with peace of mind, the Pediatric Thoracic Center aims to establish the “So Fit & Fun Center” to explore what is possible beyond these children’s limitations. This initiative also involves multiple specialties, such as sports medicine and physical therapy.

Children at the So Fit and Fun Center will be assessed through play in a fun, engaging space where brothers and sisters are also welcome. In addition to exercise bikes and treadmills, the center features a bouncy castle, and virtual reality and games ensure a fun experience. A customized exercise and lifestyle program is created for each child. The goal is to improve these children’s physical capacity and instill in them confidence and, above all, a love of play and sports, which can also have a positive effect on their condition and how they cope with it.

Sophia Children’s Hospital is an academic environment where patient care, research, and education come together. It is a place where children truly come first and where providing the very best care is our top priority. Children shouldn’t have to be sick, but unfortunately, reality is different. That’s why the Friends of Sophia Foundation does everything it can to make the hospital stay as pleasant as possible for young patients and their families. This includes ensuring the hospital has an inviting atmosphere, providing toys, and offering recreational activities.

The Pediatric Thoracic Center at Sophia Children’s Hospital is dedicated to children with conditions affecting the organs in the chest (the thorax): the heart, lungs, airways, diaphragm, and esophagus. Many of the patients have multiple conditions and require expertise from various medical specialties. The Pediatric Thoracic Center is the only facility in the Netherlands where heart transplants are performed on children. In addition, unique airway reconstructions, lung surgeries, and surgeries on the esophagus and diaphragm are performed here. The Pediatric Thoracic Center is able to do this thanks to the collaboration between and the presence of all available specialties within this center. This is unique in the Netherlands and rare in Western Europe.

Aad de Vries, Managing Director of SERIS: “In the SERIS campaign ‘SERIS stands for monkey,’ we’ve embraced Sophia Superaapje. Superaapje is the super-soft friend of the young patients at the Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital and offers them a helping hand during their stressful admission and stay in the hospital. He uses all his superpowers to comfort and cuddle them whenever needed. We urge everyone to support this wonderful initiative.”