MOBILE – Senior Bowl football players recently set aside their helmets and showed their hearts. The players visited on Jan. 27 with young patients at the University of South Alabama Children’s & Women’s Hospital.

The annual hospital visit is a favorite event for the players and their young fans, most of who are unable to attend the game. Players visited with patients in the hospital’s special “Treehouse” play area, the Class Act school room and in some patients’ rooms.

“The Senior Bowl players are always generous with their time,” said Dr. Becky DeVillier, USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital administrator. “I think they enjoy their visits with our patients as much as our patients enjoy seeing them.”

The Senior Bowl organization has been a strong supporter of USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital for many years. In addition to the annual players’ visits, Senior Bowl donations have been used to purchase Starbright World, a private, interactive computer network that allows the hospital’s children to interact with children hospitalized at other leading pediatric care centers across the United States.

Senior Bowl funds have also helped purchase computers for children receiving treatment in the hospital’s USS Hope cancer and sickle cell treatment center, special golf carts that transport patients and families throughout the USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital campus, and renovations to the hospital’s lobby.

For more information on USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital, visit www.southalabama.edu/usacwh. For more information on the Senior Bowl, visit www.seniorbowl.com.