Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post takes a look at our some of the others that make Child Life Services run, our school teachers, child life assistants, and leadership.

By Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

In honor of National Child Life Month (March), we are continuing to explore the many different areas of the hospital our department covers. For the last three weeks, you have read about the child life specialists who cover in inpatient, outpatient, and critical care areas, but there are a few members of our team that we have not yet covered. These three groups are extremely important to our department and the way it operates. These groups are our hospital school teachers, our child life assistants, and our leadership team.

At Le Bonheur, we have two school teachers who are available to meet the educational needs of our patients and families. When a child is admitted, these two teachers communicate with the school that the child attends, speaks with teachers, counselors, and anyone else involved to determine what work needs to be done while the child is in the hospital. Once this work is received, teachers are available to help patients with their assignments so they do not fall behind while they are here. In addition, these teachers hold daily classroom sessions in our two classrooms for any patients who are able to attend.

Child Life Assistants work in all areas of the hospital focusing on normalization activities for patients and their family members. These assistants help organize our special events such as monthly parties, arts and craft events, and performances from various community groups. They also staff our daily creative arts and teen room sessions so that patients and their families can get out of their room and participate in something fun. These assistants also work with volunteers to provide additional opportunities for our patients and families.

Our leadership team is composed of our director, Thomas Hobson, and our two managers, Lauren McCann and Jenny Shelton (you have likely read blog posts by all three of these fabulous leaders). From maintaining the daily schedule to developing the vision of the Child Life program, the leadership team is responsible for the overall success of the department. The team also works with the leadership of other departments throughout Le Bonheur to ensure Child Life meets the needs of all patients, families, and staff.

As you have read over the past four weeks, the child life department influences nearly every area of Le Bonheur. We might have our different roles or areas of expertise, but we all work together to accomplish one common goal: to meet the needs of patients and their families during their stay at Le Bonheur.

Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post spotlights a child life service that focuses on helping the entire family.

by Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

For the final full week of March which is National Child Life Month I want to spotlight a service that child life specialists provide that is especially near and dear to my heart. Probably the service I spend most of my day providing is today’s spotlight: Family Support. Since I work in the Intensive Care Unit, many of my children are too ill to engage in play or distraction, but because of the severity of their illnesses or injuries, their parents and other family members often need extra support. Family support is not something that is only provided in the critical care areas, though. Specialists all over the hospital provide family support on a daily basis in several different ways. For today I will highlight three different ways that we work to support families.

Child Life provides emotional support for parents, siblings and extended family members while they have a loved one in the hospital. Sometimes having a child in the hospital is harder than being in the hospital yourself. We recognize that sometimes parents or family members just need someone to listen to their concerns and validate their feelings. Child Life Specialists aim to help family members feel more comfortable and increase their understanding of the hospital environment. We also acknowledge that when we are under intense stress or have missed hours upon hours of sleep we are unable to process information as effectively as usual. Specialists work with families to communicate important medical information about their child in a way they can understand and make appropriate decisions.

The second area of family support is support we provide to certain family members: sibling support. In order to help siblings cope with the patient’s hospitalization, a Child Life Specialist provides age appropriate preparation for siblings to come visit the hospital.  Preparation generally includes pictures and education about the child’s illness, medical equipment and changes in appearance. This preparation is especially crucial in our critical care areas where physicians utilize unfamiliar and potentially scary medical equipment in caring for a patient. Without this preparation, siblings or other young family members could easily be overwhelmed and afraid. In situations when a patient receives a new diagnosis, Child Life Specialists explain the diagnosis to siblings in a way they can understand.

If a patient is very critically ill and not able to recover from an illness or injury, Child Life Specialists provide bereavement support to families during a death, or pending death, of a loved one. Child Life can provide the family with opportunities for making memories, resources on coping with death, and how to explain death to siblings. Child Life Specialists are often present throughout this time to offer additional emotional to parents, siblings, and other family members.

These three areas are the general areas where family support is provided. Of course, in every way, we strive to provide patient AND family centered care to all of our patients and families. And now a question for all of you reading out there…if you have ever had a loved one in the hospital, was there anything that anyone did, or anything you wish someone would have done that would have been helpful and supportive to you? We are always looking for ways to better support our families!

Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post spotlights a child life service that helps to take the fear out of being at the hospital.

by Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

In continuing our spotlights during child life month, today we will highlight a service that nearly every specialist has provided in nearly every area: preparation! This week we have been working to educate staff and families in the hospital about our role in preparing children for procedures and we thought we would let you in on the fun!

Preparation for procedures allows the patient and their family the opportunity to learn about the procedure in a way that is non-threatening.  The information is presented in child friendly terms to help ease fears and misconceptions, as well as promote coping. Some parents are hesitant to prepare children for upcoming procedures, but for children, the fear of the unknown is often much worse than the reality. When we can dispel those fears by giving them accurate, honest, and age appropriate information about a procedure, it gives the child an opportunity to cope.

Sometimes the worst part of a procedure is being held down and if a child is prepared and able to hold still, the traumatic feeling of being held down might not even have to happen. Preparations that include sensory descriptions of what the child will experience are most effective. For example, “the first step is that the nurse will clean your arm with cold, wet soap three times.” When a child is expecting something to be cold and wet, it is much less scary when someone uses a cold, wet alcohol wipe to clean their arm.

Here are the Top 10 reasons that preparation for procedures is important.

• Preparation gives children a sense of control
• It minimizes stress and anxiety
• It allows us to address children’s misconceptions
• Preparation promotes appropriate understanding of the procedure
• It helps children develop coping skills
• It helps children plan to implement coping skills
• It gives children a chance to manipulate medial equipment
• Preparation promotes patient and family-centered care
• It encourages compliance during the procedure
• Preparation helps build a sense of trust between child life specialists and patients.

As you can see, preparation is a large part of what we do each day as child life specialists. We prepare children for what they will see, hear, smell, and feel. We prepare parents for what to expect during a procedure or after their child returns from a procedure. When children or parents believe some piece of information is being withheld from them, it causes an increase in anxiety and stress. And one of our biggest goals is to reduce stress and anxiety for patients and families in the hospital. Preparation is just one way we do that!

Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post takes a look at our wonderful critical care child life specialist.

By Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

In honor of National Child Life Month (March), we are continuing to explore the many different areas of the hospital our department covers. As I mentioned last week, child life looks very different depending on the area in which you cover. This week, we will highlight yet another area where the services we provide are slightly different than those we offer in our inpatient or outpatient areas. Today I want to tell you a little about our critical care specialists.

Child Life Specialists cover in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, and the Intermediate Care Unit. These specialists provide support to the families of our most critical patients. They utilize family support techniques to help families implement effective coping strategies and better understand the medical plan of care. Particularly in the NICU and IMCU, our patients can have pretty long hospital stays. In these areas, specialists provide developmental stimulation in order to help patients continue to grow and develop while in the hospital. Another aspect of critical care is sibling support. Specialists in these areas prepare siblings to visit patients so that siblings are not overwhelmed by the medical equipment and monitors. These specialists can also provide memory-making opportunities for families.

These specialists spend a lot of their time providing:

• Preparation for patients and families for procedures/tests
• Emotional support
• Sibling visits and support
• New diagnosis teaching
• Memory-making/legacy building
• Developmental stimulation
• Education regarding effective coping and self-care
• Anticipatory grief support
• Bereavement support

As you can see, inpatient specialists, outpatient specialists, and critical care specialists share many of the same responsibilities. However, child life has a slightly different emphasis in each of the various areas. The best news is that if you have to visit any of these four areas, you are likely to encounter someone from our team. For our last full week of Child Life Month, we will look at the remainder of the child life department, including Child Life Assistants, our Leadership Team, and Hospital School Teachers. In the meantime, Happy Child Life Month!!!

Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post spotlights an important child life service, distraction.

by Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

One of the services that child life specialists provide is distraction for children during procedures. Distraction is not rocket-science and parents are fully equipped (maybe better than we are) to distract their child during procedures. Research has indicated that children cope better with painful procedures when they are distracted and that is the reason we do what we do.

Distraction, though, is not limited to distraction during procedures. We can often use distraction (which looks more like camouflage) to encourage a child to be compliant with a physician’s order. For example, a patient who we need to take deep breaths is much more likely to do so if those breaths are taken in order to blow bubbles or make a pinwheel spin. In the same way, a child who needs to get out of bed and walk is much more likely to get up if there is something fun and enticing at the end of their walk. Walking to the playroom is much more likely to happen than just walking down the hall and back.

It makes sense that these strategies would work. If the brain is given something else to focus on, the pain or fear becomes less prominent. Of course the pain and fear might still be there, but the brain is now unable to focus as much energy on these negative feelings because it is busy focusing on the fun, exciting result of doing whatever we need the child to do. The most important thing is that the activity or reward is age appropriate.

Distraction during procedures works the same way. If a child has a favorite book, bubbles, some light-up toy, or even just distracting conversation to focus on, they will have less brain energy to focus on the pain. And if the distraction is especially engaging, they will return to the fun distracting activity as soon as the poke is over and will be better able to hold still for the completion of the procedure.

A quick disclaimer: if children are watchers, attempting to distract them or shield their eyes during procedures will cause them to become more distressed. For these children it is best to talk them through each step of the procedure and remind them of their only job: to hold still.

Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post marks our first with a look at our wonderful outpatient child life specialist.

By Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

In honor of National Child Life Month (March), we are continuing to explore the many different areas of the hospital our department covers. Last week we talked about how it is helpful and good to know that we cover so many different areas. Child life looks very different depending on the area in which you cover and this is especially true in our outpatient areas. This week, we will highlight our various outpatient specialists.

Child life specialists cover in four of our outpatient areas including the Emergency Department (ED), Outpatient Clinics, Same Day Surgery, and Radiology. The specialists in these areas take special care to cover their departments at the most busy times. Specialists in the Emergency Department cover all seven days of the week, working in the afternoon and night hours in order to be present during the most busy times in the ED. The specialist in Same Day Surgery arrives early enough to prepare and accompany (if needed) the earliest surgical cases each weekday. Although each area that is covered is vastly different, there are some common areas of expertise between the outpatient specialists. These specialists all help patients and families cope with the stress and anxiety of the hospital. They utilize age appropriate teaching and medical play to increase coping and compliance with procedures, tests, and treatments performed in the outpatient areas. These specialists spend a lot of their time providing

• Preparation for procedures/tests
• Distraction and relaxation
• Emotional support
• Pain management
• Pre-operative preparation
• Positioning for comfort
• New diagnosis teaching
• Compliance support
• Medical play
• Bereavement support

As you will see next week, this list is slightly different than the list for specialists in critical care. And of course, this list is not all-inclusive. The different areas have special needs that specialists assist with on a daily basis. The best news is that if you have to visit any of these four areas, you are likely to encounter someone from our team. Next week we will spotlight the specialists who cover the critical care areas. In the meantime, Happy Child Life Month!!!

Editor's Note: Every March is Child Life Month, which is a wonderful spotlight for awareness on the field of Child Life. As part of our celebration, More Than Medicine will "spotlight" child life specialists from various areas of Le Bonheur Children's. Today's post marks our first with a look at our wonderful inpatient child life specialist.

By Jamie Droke
Child Life Specialist

In honor of National Child Life Month (March), we are taking the opportunity to remind everyone of the many different areas of the hospital our department covers. For anyone who has ever had an encounter with someone from our team, you might not be aware that we cover in so many different areas. In fact, it is probably true that some staff members at Le Bonheur are unable to name all of the different areas where we work. And that is okay, because the important thing is that each specialist is known by the staff in that area and is well integrated as a member of the team. However, it is also helpful and good to know that we cover so many different areas. And the truth of the matter is, child life looks very different depending on the area in which you cover. So for the month of March, we will look at each different type of area we cover, starting today with the inpatient specialists.

Each of our inpatient units is covered each weekday by a Certified Child Life Specialist. These specialists work to promote coping and reduce stress for patients and their families throughout hospital admissions. In addition, child life specialists recognize the need for normal activities and peer interactions while in the hospital and facilitate opportunities for normalization and socialization.

These specialists spend a lot of their time providing

• Preparation for procedures
• Distraction during procedures
• Emotional support
• Therapeutic play
• Therapeutic art
• Medical play
• New diagnosis teaching
• Developmental stimulation
• Developmental assessment

Since our units are organized by diagnosis and child life specialists cover by unit, each specialist has a few diagnoses in which they are extremely well versed. For example, the specialist who covers the neurology floor (7th) is our expert on brain tumors, but not on asthma. And the specialist who covers the respiratory floor (11th) is our expert on asthma, but not on brain tumors. Each specialist has a list of several procedures or diagnoses they spend a lot of time dealing with, but all of the inpatient specialists spend a lot of their time providing things on the list above. As you will see in the weeks to come, this list is slightly different than the list for outpatient specialists or specialists in critical care. In the meantime, Happy Child Life Month!!!

By Thomas Hobson
Child Life Director

March 31st has finally arrived, which can only mean one thing, it's the end of Child Life Month.  When I started going through all of the photos that are above this, it stuck me what a month it has been.  Our goal for Child Life Month was to use it as an opportunity for education, advocacy, awareness, and celebration.

It would be easy to imagine a month in which we celebrated ourselves, but we at Le Bonheur Children's Child Life Services saw it different.  Instead of relaxing and celebrating, our staff worked even harder to make all of this happen.  What is more amazing is that it is the wonderful individuals that make up this department that took the ideas and turned them into reality.

We have seen families be able to rest and relax, whether it was a relaxation/pampering experience or just being able to talk to another adult at the parent breakfast.  There was lots of fun, just look at the pictures from Game-a-palooza or the Pep Rally.  It doesn't take a great stretch to see the impact that it made.

However, what you don't see if the tireless efforts of the everyday work the child life staff does.  We understand the opportunity we have to make on the experience of a patient and family while they are at Le Bonheur Children's.  There is a clear mission and purpose we have been tasked, and the child life specialist, child life assistants, and school teachers go above and beyond to meet it. 

It is because of this dedication that we are able to provide the excellent care and service we do.  And it is that reason that I am thankful for every single member of this team.  Le Bonheur Children's Child Life Services would not be the same without them.

We are far from the only child life program in the nation (or world).  So, I would encourage you to let any person you know in the field of Child Life know that you appreciate the work they do.  Remember that even though they are supporting lots of people, it's always nice for them to feel supported too.

by Dana Givens
Child Life Specialist 

My day at Le Bonheur Children's starts out on 7 west which is the cardiac and surgical floor. It is a very busy time in the morning with medical staff are checking charts for patients to go to procedures. I work closely with the medical team to prepare patients for procedures such as going to the Starlight Room, surgery, central line/PICC line placements, and IV starts to name a few.

In the morning I talk with the charge nurse and she fills me in on how the patients are doing and what medical procedure they will be having today. In discharge planning I get more information about the patients and families and what we, as a team, need to do to help them get home. Discharge planning involves many departments working together such as: child life, social work, case management, pharmacy, nutrition, spiritual care and surgery nurse practitioner.

My mid-morning is spent preparing my patients for procedures that they will have. I provide age appropriate/developmentally preparation for patients who will be getting a medical procedure done that might be scary or frightening. I make sure that the patients have an opportunity to have all their fears and questions addressed before their procedure.

I provide this through using pictures, medical equipment, and teaching dolls to prepare patients for their procedures, focusing on what the patient will feel, hear, see and smell. Sometime patients need extra support during their procedures. I am there to help them along the way and provide procedural support, having a familiar face and words of encourage can go along way.

I love to encourage my patients to have some fun! An important part of post surgical care is to get out of bed and walk, or as we say in the hospital, ambulate. One of the ways I encourage my patients to get up and walk is to invite them to join in on the Child Life special events. Game-a-palooza was lots of fun for the patients, families, and staff. I had lots of fun helping my patients' play and they won some cool prizes and got to walk around, which is just what the doctor ordered!

I often use art activities to help me better understand what my patients are going through and how they feel about their hospitalization. Emotions and feelings can often be represented through art. This gives me a chance to make sure they are coping well with being in the hospital. Tie-dyeing was a blast and very informative!

Another way that I make sure that my patients are coping well is to encourage them and their family to use the playroom. What better way to assess how a child is doing than to see them play? Many times patients face situations in the hospital that can be scary. Providing them with a safe environment where they can be themselves is very important to their hospital stay. After all play is what children do best!

by Kayleigh Gutchall
Child Life Specialist

This fourth week of March marks our final week of Child Life Month. Over the last three weeks, we have seen Le Bonheur Children’s spirit, found that we have SuperStars in our midst, figured that the Price is Right, and experienced some quality family bonding time. To end Child Life Month, Le Bonheur Children’s Child Life Staff is finishing the only way we know how, with a bang!

Child Life Week is the fourth and final week of Child Life Month. It is all about fun events, games, and prizes that celebrate everything Child Life has to offer our patients, families, and staff.

In celebration, we had three main events. Our first event was a Toy Story Extravaganza. As you know, reading is an extremely important aspect in children’s development. On Monday, we were able to encourage families to read to their children by having a Toy Story party where we passed out toys and stories to each patient and watched Toy Story 1 & 2 back to back.

Our second event was held on Wednesday, Teddy Bear Clinic.  Each child received a teddy bear that was their very own “patient” for the day. They had the opportunity to visit different stations to have procedures that they would normally have, done to their teddy bear instead. They were also able to tour Le Bonheur Children’s very own ambulance.

Our third event is our final blowout that is happening today at 2pm. Child Life is having a Carnival full of games, arts and crafts, and a concession stand equipped with Sheridan’s Frozen Custard to celebrate.

To show our appreciation for making this March the best Child Life month yet, we have I <3 Child Life stickers available this week for patients, families and staff to wear in their support of Child Life. Find a Child Life Staff member to get your sticker today.

THANK YOU, from your Child Life Staff!

by Jenny Shelton
Lead Child Life Specialist

Having a family member in the hospital is difficult for all of us, and when it is your child your whole world is changed.  When parents/caregivers have a child in the hospital their focus is now on what can be done to make their child well.  It is the natural instinct for parents/caregivers to want to make things better for their hospitalized child while surviving on little sleep and lots of worry.

Many times parents/caregivers forget to think about themselves and that is why Le Bonheur Children's Child Life Services strives to provide support for the whole entire family.  Parents/caregivers can easily forget that they must take care of themselves.  It is with that in mind that we wrote up some tips for parents to remember while they have a child at Le Bonheur Children's. 

• Self-care/Coping: Parents/caregivers need to take care of themselves by getting sleep, appropriate nutrition, and taking breaks from the hospital environment.  Some families find it helpful to document/journal their experience while in the hospital.
• Emotional Support: Parents/Caregivers need to enlist the support of family, friends, and their faith community to cope with the stress and anxiety that occurs when your child is in the hospital. 
• Seeking Help: Parents/Caregivers need to seek help from those around them when they are having difficulty coping.  Most hospitals have support services (chaplain, mental health professional, and social workers) to help families when typical coping techniques are no longer working.

As a parent/caregiver, you want to give your all to your child, and that means taking care of yourself.  If you are completely stressed out and exhausted, this will translate over to your child.  You don't even have to say a word to them, your child will pick up on your non-verbal cues.

Remember that here are Le Bonheur Children's, we see parents/caregivers as part of the treatment team, and we need to make sure that all members of that team are taking care of themselves.  That's part of the way we know that we can provide the best possible care to the patient.

by Dana Givens, Child Life Specialist 
and Sallee Chalk, Child Life Specialist

This week's theme for Child Life Month is Family Week! Child Life advocates for patient and family centered care so that care includes the patient, parents, and siblings. Siblings, who can easily be  forgotten about during the patient's hospitalization, play and vital role in the lives our patients. They provide normalization through play and acts as support systems to aid in coping with their environment.

Most people realize that hospitalization can be traumatic for the patient, but it can also be traumatic for their siblings as well. A brother or sister can have feelings of anxiety, fear, guilt, and jealousy. Child Life Services provides siblings with opportunities to express these feelings in a developmentally appropriate manner.  For instance, we may engage the sibling(s) in specific sibling related games and activities.  It is comforting for a sibling to know that there are other brothers and sisters in the same situation they are in.

Child Life strives to provide child friendly education to siblings through a variety of activities such as sibling preparations. The first time a sibling visits the patient can be overwhelming, and that is especially true if they are in one of Le Bonheur Children's critical areas.  Child Life provides sibling preparations to prepare the child to visit the patient, using pictures of the child and medical equipment along with child friendly explanation of their use. Remember that the unknown elements of the visit make it far scarier than if they know what to expect.

Siblings are encouraged to take part in Child Life calendar activities with the patients to encourage normalization and socialization.  Some of theses activities are playrooms, teen room, creative arts, and special events hosted by community organizations.

Siblings are an important part of families, and Le Bonheur Children’s recognizes their  importance during hospitalization.  Outside of the hospital, patients and their siblings interact on a regular basis, and why shouldn't the same thing be true for the hospital.

by Stephanie Kellough
Child Life Assisant

If you spend an extended period of time in the hospital it can get pretty boring for patients and families.  One thing that Le Bonheur Children's Child Life Department does is encourages families to have their own game night.  It is a great way to get the family together for a fun time that they may not think of doing otherwise.  As a matter of fact, a family game night may be perfect for your family.

It can be difficult for families to spend quality time together, especially when you consider school, work, and every thing in between.  However, bringing your family together doesn’t have to be a major Operation.    In The Game of Life, what’s important is the time you spend with your family. Even if you all have crazy schedules, making your family a priority is worth the effort.   What better way to spend quality time together than a game night? 

Here are some great reasons to start having a family game night:

• When your children are acting like a Barrel of Monkeys, family game night can help.
• If you want to lessen the Risk of losing touch with your family, family game night can help.
• If you want to learn more about your children’s personalities, here’s a Clue, family game night can help.
• If you want a Memory to last a lifetime, family game night can help.

 Bonding with your family is easy as Uno, dos, tres.  Family game night does not have to be exhausting. So before you Topple over, just remember to keep it simple.  Here are a few games that we suggest to help keep it simple: Battleship, Twister, Sorry, Cooties, Trouble, Checkers, Scrabble, Connect Four, Taboo, Monopoly, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Cranium, Cadoo, and Mancala. 

Here’s wishing you a Happy Game Night!!!

by Stephanie Kellough
Child Life Assistant

It’s true that in March Le Bonheur Children’s celebrates Child Life Month.  It’s also true that in Child Life, we are all about education, empowerment, advocacy, and family support. We aim to meet patients and families where there needs are, and  that means being ready with any number of services.

In addition to all of those listed above, Le Bonheur Children’s Child Life Services strongly believe in the power of play.  It is the serious work of childhood, after all!  We believe in play so much that an entire week of Child Life Month is dedicated to it. So, welcome to the second week of March, or as we like to call it…Game Week!

One of the biggest activities during Game Week is Game-A-Palooza.  This year marks the third annual Game-A-Palooza, and needless to say, we are so pumped for it!  Game-A-Palooza is a giant game that is geared towards the patient and their family.  It is similar to The Price is Right. 

Patients and their family members become our contestants and are invited to “Come on down”.  We then play a series of games ranging from Pictionary to Charades to Tic Tac Toe Trivia.  Everyone who comes down gets a chance to play our games and everyone walks away a winner!  Even the patients who can’t come out of their rooms, for various reasons, get to watch on our CCTV.  It’s such a fun day and we are hoping for our biggest turnout ever. 

Child Life Services knows the important of play, and the role that it serves in the hospital experience.  Throughout the year we use play and games to teach about the hospital, to distract from the environment, or to even just have fun.  Everyone expects excellent care when they come to the hospital, and Child Life Services goes the extra effort to make sure that they can expect some fun too.

by Casey Caughran
Child Life Specialist

We all have a superstar in us, and it’s that part that is deep down inside that just shines.  Our plan is to recognize and reward the hard work of our Le Bonheur Children’s associates.  In order to do this we are engaging our patients and families in an activity promoting patient- and family-centered care.

We are going to put the Le Bonheur Children’s staff to the test and have some fun with it.  We’ll get started by distributing superstars to each of our patients.  The patients and their families will choose who is going above and beyond while demonstrating patient- and family-centered care.

Each child will have the opportunity to decide who will earn a star.  The staff member will then be in the running for becoming the ultimate “superstar”.  During our Pep Rally, which you have already read about, the “superstar” will be announced and recognized for serving Le Bonheur Children’s patients and families with compassion.  Stay tuned to find out who LeBonheur Children’s SuperStar will be.

The Child Life Department promotes patient- and family-centered care on a daily basis. We strive to put the patient and family first and keep them involved in all aspects of their admission and treatment. This activity has several goals, one of, which includes promoting patient- and family-centered care. 

Additionally, the activity will provide an opportunity for control for participating patients.  Giving children a responsibility promotes a sense of control over any given situation.  While hospitalized, much control is taken away from patients, and where it can be gained is crucial.