When you visit “Children’s Health” in Orange County, looking for children receiving lab tests, you can easily notice them thanks to their new electric Honda, which brings smiles and laughter to the little patients.
Honda engineers cried as they discussed the vision behind the car they created to support sick young people in medical centers.
The Shogo is a wheelchair made to move a child’s IV drips and other medical things around the hospital.
It gives children the freedom to move into the hospital on their own, turning a stressful treatment process into a thrilling adventure.
Hundy Liu, manager of American Honda Motor Co., found it “very satisfying to watch the smiles on the children’s faces as they rode the Shogo.”
Vehicle designer Randall Smock, who played a major role in designing Shogo, called the process a “labor of love.”
“As someone who spent time in hospital as a child, I wanted Shogo’s main goal to be to reduce the burden of a hospital visit by providing children with a cheerful memory.”
One of the mothers said: “I heard Charlie laughing harder than he had the whole time he was at the medical center, so hearing that laugh again made me want to cry.”
Shogo, a Japanese name meaning “tower into the future,” was designed with children (ages 4 to 9) in mind, hence its strength controls and the stop/go steering wheel are simple enough to be used by even the youngest drivers.
It was all captured in a stunning video that won a silver trophy at the 2022 Clio Health Awards for its moving portrayal of the healing power of play and humor for seriously ill children.
