Good News Column

The LEGO Company is Donating Free LEGO MRI Scanners to Calm and Reduce Anxiety in Younger Patients

By Max Fried

The LEGO Foundation has stated that it is donating another 600 LEGO kits to hospitals worldwide for miniature MRI scanners. This is to help children mentally who are intimidated to go through an MRI. MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan. This could be traumatizing at such a young age because an MRI is a big contraption in which you are confined in a small place. Even if you are not diagnosed with claustrophobia (fear of compact spaces), it is still very easy to be scared.

This started as only a passion project of LEGO employee Erik Ullerlund Stauhr and a Denmark hospital back in 2015. Now, this is being used as a mainstream training material for hospitals. The set itself contains 500 pieces and by building it, the patient can see and understand how an MRI works and what it looks like inside. Also, by seeing this, the children feel less worried, knowing how reliable and safe it really is. Erik Stauhr said, “I’m extremely proud of this project and the positive impact it’s already had. I’ve seen first-hand how children have responded to these models; feeling more relaxed and turning an often highly stressful experience into a positive, playful one.”

Ever since the first model, the radiology department team at Odense University Hospital and many others have used the LEGO MRI scanners to promote playful learning in 200 children ages 4-9. The set allows the children to simulate and act out the scanning process. This also gets them excited to do it, seeing how the LEGO characters are also excited and happy. According to the Danish company, the use of anesthesia is due to fewer amounts of stress and anxiety. Anesthesia is used during operations such as surgery and MRI scans so that the patient does not mess up the delegate process by being nervous or in pain. Part of the Department of Radiology, Ulla Jensen said, “MRI Scanners make a lot of noise which can be very daunting for children. Our team has found that using the LEGO model has led to more positive, calm experiences for many children.”

Approximately 100 hospitals globally have benefitted from IKEA’s pilot program, which was shipping the LEGO sets. Recently, the LEGO Foundation has encouraged hospitals to apply for one of the 600 sets available. These sets would be shipped for free to the hospitals. Once the applications were open, LEGO received 1,500 different applications on its first day.