If you’re visiting Children’s Health in Orange County, California, on the lookout for kids receiving lab tests, you can spot them easily thanks to their new electric Honda, which is bringing smiles and laughter to the young patients.
Engineers from Honda cried while discussing the inspiration behind the car they built to comfort sick youngsters in hospitals.
The Shogo is a wheelchair made for carrying a child’s IV drips and other medical equipment around the hospital.
It gives children the freedom to navigate the hospital on their own, turning a potentially stressful trip to treatment into an exciting adventure.
Hundy Liu, manager of national advertising at American Honda Motor Co., found it ‘very fulfilling’ to watch the smiles on the faces of the young patients as they drove Shogo.
Senior vehicle exterior designer Randall Smock, who had a major hand in designing Shogo, referred to the process as a ‘labor of love.’
‘As someone who spent time in the hospital as a small child, I truly wanted the primary goal of Shogo to be lessening the burden of a hospital visit by providing youngsters with a lasting happy memory about that experience.’
One of Charlie’s moms stated, ‘I heard Charlie laugh harder than he has the whole time he’s been in the hospital, so hearing that laugh again made me want to cry.’
Shogo, a Japanese name meaning ‘soaring into the future,” was designed with kids in mind (ages 4 to 9), so its power controls and stop/go steering wheel are simple enough for even the youngest drivers to use.
A caregiver or nurse operating the device can set the speed anywhere from 1 to 5 mph.Caregivers have the option of manually pushing Shogo thanks to the inclusion of a push bar.
It was all caught in a fantastic video that went on to win a Silver trophy at the 2022 Clio Health Awards for its moving portrayal of the healing power of play and humor for seriously ill children.
WATCH the touching clip down below…