THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260435
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 82 lines
Tanya Newland spent Thursday morning checking out Olympic events, tracking how many medals the United States had won, popping into a souvenir shop to peruse the red-white-and-blue merchandise.
The 14-year-old from Newport News, hospitalized since Sunday for heart problems exacerbated by dehydration, isn't letting illness stop her from enjoying an Olympic experience.
Thanks to the wonders of computer technology, she can visit the Olympics without leaving her bed at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
Her journey through several of the more than 200 Olympic-related sites on the Internet's World Wide Web was one of many activities the hospital's teaching staff had planned to link children to the Summer Games.
``We wanted to make learning relevant to something going on right now,'' said Margaret Coleman, principal of the year-round, in-hospital school.
So children have passports, complete with Polaroid picture, in which they collect ``stamps'' of each country participating in the Olympics. They create Olympic ``books,'' coloring maps and flags of the various countries, writing stories about the events. And when they finish school - by leaving the hospital - they get a gold ``medal'' on a striped ribbon.
Each day, teachers spotlight a different country. Thursday's was Italy, so Tanya surfed the Web for information about its climate, geography and the sport in which the Italians are expected to take the gold - water polo.
``Did you know they're going to change the rules in water polo after the Olympics?'' she asked.
It's a bittersweet experience for Tanya, who, because of her heart condition, can't participate in any of her own beloved sports. Until her illness was diagnosed in January, she was an avid football player, her mother said.
This week, Tanya participated in an on-line ``chat'' with basketball superstar David Robinson, center for the San Antonio Spurs and a talented musician.
``Why do you play basketball instead of focusing on the piano?'' she had typed. He didn't answer her. On Thursday, she read his answer to someone else's question: Would he prefer winning an NBA championship or two gold medals?
The Dream Teamer didn't hesitate: ``An NBA championship.''
As Tanya surfed, her teacher, Gus Guardino, perched on the edge of Tanya's bed, peered with her at the screen of the laptop computer, engrossed in the Olympic trivia available with just the tap of a key. ``This gets them out of their beds, out of the hospital and into Atlanta,'' he said.
The children get practical skills while they're having fun, he said. For instance, they learned the metric system for their discussion about Olympic swimming. They used a CD-ROM encyclopedia to learn about the geography of the competing countries and found photos of famous places abroad on the Internet.
Four floors above Tanya's room, a hospital classroom is festooned with Olympic paraphernalia, including newspaper clippings, maps, flags and a tissue-paper torch.
Even the children are decorated. Eight-year-old Andy Copley, who has been in the hospital for several months undergoing cancer treatment, has a temporary tattoo of the American flag adorning his bald head.
His task Thursday morning was to write his Olympic dream and e-mail it to a special Web site. With his right arm trailing an IV filled with chemotherapy drugs, his left finger slowly tapped out his message.
``My Olympic jyrm is to be a swimmer.''
``Gus, I'm done,'' he called.
Guardino came over, read the message and smiled. He moved the computer's mouse, then clicked twice. ``There you go. You've just sent it. You were there, man. You were there.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON\The Virginian-Pilot
A patient explores Olympic sites on the World Wide Web from her bed
at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Eight-year-old Andy Copley's task Thursday was to e-mail his Olympic
dream to a special Web site. Copley, who is undergoing cancer
treatment, had this dream: to be a swimmer.
[side bar]
Online sites for Olympics information
For complete copy, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: OLYMPICS INTERNET CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF THE
KING'S DAUGHTERS by CNB