Champions of Fun

Sometimes you have great plans for celebrating your birthday, but things don’t turn out the way you planned.

For one young girl, it was time for her to celebrate leaving the single digits and moving into the doubles by turning 10! However, on her special day she ended up in Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Care Center after injuring her ankle. This is when the child life specialist working in the ECC jumped into action. Soon a group of ECC associates were singing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. As she was sung to, and given a special birthday present, the smile on her face said it all. “It was hard to say who enjoyed the festivities more – the patient or our ECC staff,” says Child Life Specialist Tracy Byler.

Child Life Specialists Tracy Byler and Tina Tropp

Tracy and Child Life Specialist Tina Tropp have been helping wipe away fears among children being seen in the ECC two nights a week since March. Their presence is needed in a place that can be stressful and overwhelming for an adult, and sometimes even more so for a child.

Child life specialists are trained to provide developmentally appropriate education, preparation and support for children in the health care setting. Distraction, play opportunities for patients (toys/board games) and their siblings and even the occasional birthday celebration are just some of the ways they help provide a little bit of normalcy in an often stressful environment.

Keith Sherry, M.D., Medical Director of the ECC, understands and supports the need for child life specialists. “The ER can be a frightening place for kids,” he explains. “Our child life specialists have the time and the expertise to focus on reducing the anxiety and discomfort of children (and their parents) undergoing evaluation and treatment. They instantly become the child’s ‘new best friend’ at Memorial.”