Press Release
Georgia Aquarium Partners with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation to Bring Aquatic Animals to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
ATLANTA (February 28, 2023) – Georgia Aquarium and the Ryan Seacrest Foundation (RSF) have come together to bring aquatic animals to patients in Seacrest Studios at children’s hospitals around the country, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s). By providing fun and engaging video footage, Georgia Aquarium is joining RSF’s efforts to transport patients out of the hospital and into engaging adventures during their treatment.
To kick off this partnership, the animal teams from Georgia Aquarium visited Children’s Egleston Hospital to provide fun, virtual visits with their animals back at the Aquarium, interact with animal care takers at the hospital, and get an Aquarium plushie. The Ryan Seacrest Foundation has built 11, soon to be 14, broadcast media centers named Seacrest Studios in pediatric hospitals nationwide – including a location at Egleston – as a part of their mission to provide patients the opportunity to explore radio, television, and new media. With the help of Seacrest Studios, Georgia Aquarium connected Atlanta patients to live, interactive Zoom encounters with their sea lions, dolphins, and penguins. Patients and their families watched and engaged with Aquarium trainers live in the Seacrest Studios at Egleston.
The Ryan Seacrest Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to inspiring today’s youth through entertainment and education-focused initiatives. RSF utilizes its Seacrest Studios to contribute positively to the healing process for children and their families through access to multimedia experiences. By bringing patients on exciting adventures, RSF aims to encourage optimistic thoughts during treatment.
“The Ryan Seacrest Foundation is thrilled to team up with the Georgia Aquarium to virtually take patients under the sea to meet and learn all about aquatic animals,” said Meredith Seacrest Leach, executive director & coo of the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. “We are grateful to share this unique and engaging marine life education not only with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, but also with our entire Seacrest Studios network.”
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is Georgia’s leading pediatric healthcare provider with three hospitals and multiple neighborhood locations. For more than 100 years, their purpose has been to make kids better today and healthier tomorrow. Patients and their families are able to enjoy the many engaging studio offerings, which occasionally includes special guest visits, like the trainers from Georgia Aquarium.
The Aquarium’s partnership with RSF creates an opportunity to connect kids in children’s hospitals nationwide with the ocean and animals that call it home, regardless of location. In addition to the Zoom visit with aquarium animals at Seacrest Studios in Atlanta, Georgia Aquarium also provided RSF with video content from multiple exhibits to stream via their closed-circuit TV network. Georgia Aquarium is committed to inspiring the next generation of marine advocates. “We believe that every child should have the opportunity to learn about our world ocean. Our partnership with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation allows us to extend that opportunity to patients undergoing medical treatment at certain children’s hospitals throughout the U.S. with engaging aquarium content,” said Jessica Wood, senior director of communications at Georgia Aquarium.
For ways to support Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, visit their website, here. Learn more about ways to support the Ryan Seacrest Foundation by visiting their website, here.
For media photos and broll of Georgia Aquarium’s visit to CHOA, please see the links below:
Credit: Georgia Aquarium
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Georgia Aquarium is a leading 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Atlanta, Ga. that is Humane Certified by American Humane and accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Georgia Aquarium is committed to working on behalf of all marine life through education, preservation, exceptional animal care, and research across the globe. Georgia Aquarium continues its mission each day to inspire, educate, and entertain its millions of guests about the aquatic biodiversity throughout the world through its engaging exhibits and tens of thousands of animals across its eight major galleries.
The Ryan Seacrest Foundation (RSF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to inspiring today’s youth through entertainment and education-focused initiatives. RSF’s primary initiative is to build broadcast media centers — Seacrest Studios — within pediatric hospitals for patients to explore the creative realms of radio, television and new media. Founded in 2009, RSF currently has Seacrest Studios at hospitals in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Orange County, Philadelphia and Washington D.C, Nashville and Orlando. Three new studios are scheduled to open this year in Memphis, TN at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Queens, NY at Cohen Children’s Medical Center and Salt Lake City, UT at Primary Children’s Hospital. For more information, visit www.ryanseacrestfoundation.org
