The Starlight Children’s Foundation is dedicated to supporting children who are coping with serious illness. Offering more emotional support than medical, Starlight helps kids deal with the psychological toll of sickness and hospitalization.

In a pro bono effort, Rethink wanted to help the foundation do what they do best. The kids they work with range in age from toddler to teen. Rethink was intrigued by the latter group. The vulnerability of children means that there are countless sources of help. And while teens receive support as well, they’re just a little less likely to be the centre of attention. Rethink wanted to help this group and give them some extra attention.

Kids with serious illnesses who are hospitalized long term are coping with a lot. For young teens, an extended stay can challenge their sense of identity. Teens would describe how the hospital experience makes them feel as though they’re “just a hospital patient,” and that who they are becomes lost in the process of their treatments. Although this is less serious than the physical ailments, it’s very real to them.

Having to face the world in drab, anonymous hospital gowns makes many teens, whose identities are still developing, feel diminished. For many, extensive poking and prodding and constant examinations make them feel like they are seen as an illness, not a person. While this isn’t life and death, it affects their fighting spirit and that can affect their ability to recover.

Together with Starlight Children’s Foundation, Rethink teamed up with Canadian creators to develop a line of hospital gowns packed with personality. Designers ranged from a tattoo artist to a costumer who had worked with David Bowie. While maintaining the functionality of the robes, designers worked with lively, colourful fabrics and added custom touches that transformed the garments. Ranging from camouflage and punk-inspired to lace and hipster, the gowns were brought to hospitals where the kids choose whatever outfit they wanted. The minute they put the robes on, they lit up. As one teen said: “It feels like I’m myself. It doesn’t feel like I’m in a hospital anymore.” The experience was filmed and quickly spread worldwide through social media.

The “Ward+Robes” initiative earned attention globally and garnered more than 22 million unpaid views, resulting in a 78% increase in donations to the foundation. The initiative received coverage from hundreds of publications. It also caught the attention of medical professionals around the world.
Now, Starlight Children’s Foundation is expanding the program to their network of 130 hospitals worldwide. More importantly, this program gave hospitalized teenagers the chance to feel like themselves again by letting their personalities shine through.