CHaD patient Sam Wood, 3, test drives the Honda Shogo donated by Honda Dealers of New England. CHaD is the first children’s hospital in New England to receive the electric ride-on kids’ car as part of Honda’s Project Courage campaign.

LEBANON – The Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD), part of Dartmouth Health Children’s, recently became the first children’s hospital in New England to receive a Honda Shogo, a specialized ride-on car for children donated by Honda Dealers of New England. Built with innovative, kid-friendly features that allow young drivers to navigate hospital hallways, CHaD’s newest addition aims to help alleviate the stress and anxiety that often come with hospital stays–bringing added joy and levity to a child’s healing regimen as they continue on their road to recovery.

“The hospital can be a scary place for our smallest patients,” said Tom Manion, chief operating officer for Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. “Infusing joy and fun into their stay through the autonomy of driving the Honda Shogo will help our kids, literally and figuratively, navigate their experience in the best way they know how: through the power of play.”

About 20 Honda Shogo vehicles have been donated to children’s hospitals nationwide as part of Honda’s Project Courage campaign. The Shogo is built by Honda racing engineers, and vehicles are donated to children’s hospitals through partnerships with Honda dealerships. The Japanese word “Shogo” translated into English means “soaring into the future.”

“One of the things that we do for our communities to show that Honda is here for all of our people, from the very youngest to people as old as I am, still driving Hondas,” said Marshall Jespersen, owner of Honda Stratham. “I’m sure this Shogo vehicle is going to get a tremendous amount of use here at CHaD.”