Our Story
What is SpellBound?
SpellBound is a therapeutic tool that helps children cope and engage with medical treatment using immersive augmented reality technology. SpellBound is used by pediatric specialists to improve procedural compliance and reduce trauma for their patients.
SpellBound's Beginnings
SpellBound emerged from a pediatric healthcare experience that was traumatic for both child and parent. Christina York, SpellBound’s Founder & CEO, believed she was admitting her daughter, Ivy, for routine, non-invasive care (routine, anyways, for a curious and playful child). What transpired next illustrated the opportunity for improving pediatric care.
Nervous about the environment, Ivy was hesitant to submit to the care team’s requests. Due to a lack of standardized resources, the providers instead relied on increasing forcefulness culminating in Ivy’s immobilization and, ultimately, her unnecessary anesthetization. The team restrained Ivy, against her will, using a papoose board and sedated her.
Christina created SpellBound to help. She saw a world where children experience joy while receiving care.
SpellBound Now
SpellBound helps hospital care teams create moments of magic for pediatric patients with a suite of modular augmented reality (AR) tools. The tools help hospital care teams improve efficiency and staff utilization by providing distraction during procedures, motivating physical movement afterward, and improving patient preparedness and experience throughout. Through its offering, and in concert with its customers, SpellBound helps reduce patient anxiety, pain, and sedation, as well as excessively long recovery time and length of stay.
Through it all, SpellBound has stayed true to its mission: to help hospital care teams create moments of magic for pediatric patients.
Our Approach
Distract
Help patients cope with painful or stressful moments.
Engage
Immerse patients in amazing virtual 3D worlds.
Motivate
Create excitement and encourage movement during rehabilitative therapy.
How Does It Work?
SpellBound uses the mobile devices (iOS and Android tablets and smartphones) hospitals already own to create therapeutic 3D experiences. Hospital staff and patients use SpellBound's tools with a mobile device to bring characters and scenes to 3D life with animations, music, and sounds.
Why Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality is a technology that adds digital experiences to the physical world and allows you to experience them at the same time. It's one of the most immersive technologies available today, which is why we use it for our tools.
Because augmented reality allows the patient to stay engaged with the physical world visually and aurally, it's a great choice for therapists who need to keep constant contact with their patients.