Play Therapy

Temple Memorial Pediatric Center shows off new facility on Friday

Temple Memorial Pediatric Center opened its doors to the public Friday in a Chamber of Commerce-supported event, showing off its new care center, the result of a year’s worth of work.

Guests were led by tour guides through the state-ofthe-art facility that revealed its capabilities, with many of the available therapy rooms dressed out as play centers guaranteed to spark the imagination of children, as it did many of the adults present.

“The kids are excited to come in,” said Sandy Varner, chief executive officer. “When you can turn their therapy into play, you make it a whole lot easier for both the child and the therapist. The staff loves it. I would compare this facility to any in Little Rock or Dallas. Our therapists are the best of the best.”

The staff of Temple Memorial Pediatric Center is composed of 25 members, both therapists and administrative support.

“We are excited about our brand new building,” said

Gina Parrish, marketing event coordinator. “This will help us provide exceptional therapy to the children in the Texarkana area. We’ve got more equipment, more space. We were outgrowing our older facility.”

More space means they can provide care to more children.

“We see an average of 80 to 100 appointments a day,” Parrish said. “The main purpose of our new facility is to have more room to work with the kids and accommodate more of them, to serve more children. We are all very excited and blessed to be able to provide this space for our Temple kids.”

Staff photo by Junius Stone ■ Tour guides led guests through the various play therapy areas of Temple Memorial Pediatric Center’s new facility on Friday. The area is made up of multiple rooms designed along different themes and features. Some of them are sponsored by local organizations, businesses and individuals and in many cases, the features are built around the function of the business that sponsored them, such as a bank, medical clinic or firehouse.