Madison Quinn, current nurse resident at Baystate Children's Hospital, has always had an altruistic soul. When she was 13 years old, she stumbled across an Instagram video of a child with cancer and immediately made the decision to help in any way she could. She started out small by sending care packages of toys directly to children with cancer, but knew she wanted to do more.
In 2014, Madison founded Strong Little Souls, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization intended to help ease the financial burden on the families of childhood cancer patients and help bring some light and hope to the patients themselves. Since its inception, Strong Little Souls has raised tens of thousands of dollars to help support families’ bills, sent over 1,000 care packages to children, and granted over 100 wishes.
Through the creation of her nonprofit, Madison established a strong connection with Scholastic who donated thousands of books to her cause. In April 2023, when she was a ANP on Wesson 2, Madison began brainstorming how to get these books directly into the hands of the children in the hospital. Due to infection control issues, books generally cannot be shared amongst patients, and that is where the Book Vending Machine idea came into play.
She researched different options and contacted a company that predominantly makes book vending machines for schools. They were thrilled to hear of the use of their technology in a Children’s Hospital! Funded by Strong Little Souls, the vending machine was a labor of love, and was finally implemented after nine months of strategizing between Madison, BMC’s Facilities department, and CHAD leadership.
The Book Vending Machine is stocked with titles in both English and Spanish, ranging from board books for the littlest patients to chapter books for more advanced readers. Children receive “tokens” to spend at the vending machine as prizes, incentives to ambulate, or just because they like to read. During the very first shift Madison worked after the vending machine was installed, one of her patients was given a token by another staff member.
The next thing she knew, he was running down the hall with his book, so excited to show her what he had! The patient and his mom were able to read a brand-new bedtime story that night, which is what the Book Vending Machine is all about: providing a sense of normalcy and comfort to patients and families.
Great work, Madison!