My wife and I are tag-teaming being with our youngest son as he’s treated at Massachusetts General Hospital this week. Any hospitalization of a child is hard. But Mass General, along with several other hospitals in the Boston area, tries to counterbalance that hardship with services to make him feel at home. There is the usual TV in the room, DVD players, a fantastic playroom down the hall, and even ice cream socials in the afternoon. But in my opinion, one of the best ancillary services they provide is one that isn’t listed on their Web site and isn’t one you can see. It’s an Anywhere network — a free Wi-Fi connection to the Internet.

Now when we at Yankee Group talk about the importance of ubiquitous connectivity and the Anywhere network, people probably think more of airports and coffee shops rather than hospitals. But in many ways, free Internet access in a hospital is even more valuable than it is in those more mundane places. Why? Because the structured and intensive treatment inside a hospital tends to cut us off from the outside world. Our ordinary rhythms of school, meals, and outside activities get replaced by tests, doctors’ visits, and waiting — lots of waiting. Our normal fabric of social interactions unravels to be replaced by isolation and boredom.

But a networked hospital changes this. Wi-Fi means that parents can read the newspaper without leaving the room and going to the newsstand while kids can keep up on their favorite comics. We can stay in touch with friends and family members by email. My wife and I can rearrange our appointments and calendars as needed as we trade off sleeping at the hospital. I may go to work in the morning, but I don’t have to wait until evening to find out how our son’s day went — I get instant messages during the day. And in those cases where firewalls don’t prohibit it (sadly too often nowadays), my son can even video iChat with me over lunch from his MacBook.

Now some will claim that having free Internet access in a hospital exposes patients to privacy violations, online predators, and countless other online risks. But with todays kids sporting Wi-Fi-speaking Nintendo DSs, Sony PSPs, and cell phones, using a Wi-Fi network is less risky an experience than crossing the street. Not having Internet access in the hospital makes about as much sense to a modern kid as not having electricity.

For kids, the hospital Anywhere network is just a part of life. For parents of kids in the hospital, the Anywhere network is a lifeline. Kudos to Mass General for not only providing world-class health care to our child, but also for connecting him from Anywhere.