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1017 OCTOBER
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by joy holden our lady of the lake
child
ren?s hospital
child
life
specialists
connect / l o c a l p r o f i l e hospitals can be intimidating and terrifying places, especially for
child
ren. at our lady of the lake
child
ren?s hospital, 10 special people work their hardest to assure that the hospital can be a positive experience with even some fun and good memories. ?ese magicians who transform the frightening into the familiar are the certified
child
life
specialists
. ?ey operate as medical translators, therapists, and teachers all in one day. ?when i introduce my services, i usually just start by saying i make it easier to be here. we know that nobody wants to be in the hospital. ?is isn?t what people plan. but we are here to try to make it comfortable and help the families cope with being here,? says maddie dumas, the hematology/oncology
child
life
specialist. certified
child
life
specialists
make the hospital experience easier by delivering education, preparation, and support for patients and their families. whether they are helping
child
ren understand their illnesses in developmentally-appropriate ways, calming their fears during medical procedures, or assisting families in coping with difficult events, they make a stressful situation more manageable.
child
life
specialists
can be found in the pediatric er, the pediatric intensive care unit, the pediatric hematology/oncology unit, the st. jude clinic, and the general pediatric unit. ?we all have the same goal and same mission, but we happen to work in specialty areas,? says sharon wesberry, the
child
life
manager and specialist for the picu. one significant duty is translating a diagnosis or a procedure from medical speak to age-appropriate language. ?every case is different. we could be describing something to a 3 year old or a 13 year old. we are trained to know how to talk to each of those kids based on their developmental level,? dana achary, surgical specialist, shares. ?e
child
life
specialists
meet with physicians and nurses before they speak to the
child
to discuss the diagnosis and make sure they understand it correctly. dumas explains their role, ?we need to be the safe person. sometimes the doctor comes in and the patient or parents forget what they are going to ask or the nurse comes in and the
child
hides. it?s nothing against that staff person, but it?s just that the
child
understands they come with medicine or a shot, and we bring a puzzle and toys, so it?s easier to talk to us. we get to be that go-between for the family and the medical staff. i do a lot of new diagnosis teaching, so if we have a patient come in who gets diagnosed with cancer, i help them comprehend what that means in words they understand.? in addition to diagnosis education,
child
life
specialists
also prepare their little patients for surgeries and procedures. both achary and amy enos spend their time in pre-op and the or with their patients. ?whenever we are providing any preparation for procedures, i always explain to the parents why it?s important that the kids understand what?s happening and how it?s beneficial to them. if i did something for the very first time, i would like somebody to tell me what?s going to happen and what to l to r: amy enos, patty prentice, maddie dumas, sharon wesberry, and dana achary not pictured: racheal beck, michelle guthrie, morgan covington, and shannon cranford katie duda 3 6 b r p a r e n t s . c o m | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 7
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