A child admitted to an oncology ward plays a video game on a La Guardia console. With kind approval
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As a child, Miguel Blanco was fascinated by video games on his Atari console, which defined an entire generation between the 1980s and 1990s. Like millions of boys and girls around the world, he was seduced by adventure stories like Carmen Sandiego or Pitfall. Thirty years later, his passion for the gamer universe led him to start “La Guarida”, a non-profit project that produces handcrafted consoles to donate to children’s hospitals in Argentina, where thousands of children are undergoing very long medical treatments for complex diseases.
The story goes back to 2020, when Blanco, a 37-year-old from Buenos Aires who was in complete isolation due to the Covid pandemic, resumed his passion for video games stronger than ever. With his free time and knowledge, the broadcaster, audiovisual producer and entrepreneur founded a streaming channel and, as soon as he earned his first income, gave free rein to his so-called solidarity missions. In a first phase it was dedicated to the delivery of food to the homeless, but over time it opened up to new initiatives.
These first forays into full quarantine marked the start of a project that continues to grow to this day. “I met an organization that donated old video game consoles to hospitals, but due to various technical issues, from the lack of televisions to the lack of connections, the children couldn’t use them,” Blanco América Futura tells. There he put his creativity at the service of solidarity and began developing an accessible system that would allow him access to oncology or hemodialysis rooms, where health protocols are very strict to prevent the spread of diseases within the hospital.
This is how La Guarida was born, a project that for a year has been selling “solidarity gamer consoles”, as he calls them, a briefcase with all the electronics, a monitor and a mini-computer with thousands of games installed, ready to be plugged into the wall and used.
A briefcase containing a La Guardia console. With kind approval
So far, the donations have reached three health centers, in the coming years the whole country should be reached. Most of the equipment is located in the oncology, hemodialysis and preoperative rooms of the Juan Garrahan Hospital in the federal capital, the main hospital in Argentina for the treatment of childhood cancer, where more than 600,000 consultations are attended and 11,000 operations are performed annually. In addition, the solidarity consoles reached the Pedro de Elizalde Children’s Hospital in the city of Buenos Aires and the Sor Ludovica Hospital in the city of La Plata in Buenos Aires.
Video games, a plus in cancer treatment
A study conducted by the Fundación Juegaterapia at Madrid’s La Paz Hospital and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in 2021 found that children undergoing cancer chemotherapy felt less pain when playing video games.
The investigation showed that the users of the devices reduced their morphine intake by 20% and the healing process was promoted. In addition, he suggested that video games could be “included as non-pharmacological analgesics” and “become part of the health protocol.”
For months, Blanco obsessively read similar scientific documents published in different parts of the world. “It was also found that among children about to have surgery, the stress levels were much lower in those using consoles,” he says, recalling, “There are kids who stay in the hospital for a long time.” Finding an entertainment venue to disconnect from the disease becomes urgent.”
Two children admitted to a children’s hospital play with a La Guardia console. With kind approval
Game consoles, from solidarity to action
Blanco runs the project with his partner Inés and his best friend Dylan. The donations received are collected in her workshop in order to continue the solidarity initiative. Although it is not a very complex system, it requires a lot of material and, above all, patience. “The consoles are a briefcase with a small monitor inside,” he says. Joysticks, memory cards, cables of all kinds, adapters and connectors are some of the necessary items.
“Crafting is a very traditional profession, all consoles are different,” explains Blanco. For the entrepreneur, the donation of electronic materials of all kinds is of central importance. “There’s a lot of discarded electronics that could be useful for the project,” he says.
Once manufacturing is complete, the most exciting moment comes: the delivery of the consoles. “We haven’t seen many reactions from boys because they receive them in very reserved places, such as a hemodialysis or oncology room. “The kids have a lot of fun, the consoles stay in the hospitals and are there for sharing,” says Blanco. “Patients and caregivers tell us with emotion how they use them. Recently, an employee at Garrahan Hospital was very happy to contact us to tell us about the positive effects,” he says proudly.
Blanco believes the biggest obstacle to overcome is the prejudice that video games are “violent” and lead to a sedentary lifestyle, something he says is still pervasive in part of society. “These are concepts that aren’t as real today,” he muses. “The consoles emulate old devices like the Atari, the Play Station, the SEGA or the Game Boy, and they bring thousands of games with them, we curate them because we don’t want extreme violence,” he says.
Miguel enthusiastically tells that he is currently working on a new project with the goal of donating small desktop computers adapted for use in the ward of a children’s hospital.
In the future he would like to multiply the donations and every discharged child will leave the hospital with a console to use at home. “My dream is to reach all hospitals in Argentina, not just children’s hospitals,” he adds enthusiastically. “The effects of video game use are not limited to young children. Anyone who enjoys playing can become a user of this project. I want to create synergy with the healthcare world and have consoles in all hospitals.”