For Good: The Everyday Magic of Child Life Specialists

Walk into Connecticut Children’s on any given day and you’ll notice something right away. It doesn’t feel like an adult hospital. Much of that difference comes from the work of our amazing Child Life specialists, a team dedicated to helping kids and families cope with the challenges of illness and hospitalization. Here’s how the Child Life team changes patients’ lives for good every day…

7:45 a.m.

On the third floor, a five-year-old boy is getting ready to go from the pre-op room to Operating Room 2. He hasn’t had breakfast today and he’s not sure what’s behind those operating room doors, but he knows it must be scary. He’s fighting tears and clinging hard to Dad’s hand. Then a Child Life specialist guides him to a line of toy cars and invites him to choose his favorite. His tears subside as he “drives” himself to the OR. What looks like a few minutes of play is really something more profound: in an environment where so much is out of a child’s control, a shiny pink car puts him back in the driver’s seat. 

Meanwhile, around the corner, another Child Life specialist is walking a mom carrying her toddler down the hall and into Operating Room 7. She provides a steady shoulder to lean on and some reassuring words of comfort for a nervous parent. Mom gently sets her boy onto the operating table and plants a kiss on his forehead, before following the Child Life specialist back out of the OR and to the waiting room. Here, no one has to do those difficult moments alone.

8:30 a.m. 

Upstairs, a 7-year-old girl’s life has turned upside down in a matter of hours. She’s gone from the emergency department with mystery pain to the Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders, where she’s awaiting surgery to have a chemotherapy port implanted. While mom and dad are talking to an oncologist in another room, a Child Life specialist is using a teddy bear to show her where the port will go. She lets the girl attach the teddy bear’s “IV.” Next to them sits the patient’s 12-year-old brother. A serious illness affects the entire family, so Child Life helps siblings cope with their questions and worries, too.

10:00 a.m.

A preschooler is mesmerized by a colorful light spinner while a nurse performs a blood draw. Toys like these are purchased with funds raised through the annual Virtual Toy Drive. The Child Life team needs a variety of age-appropriate toys, because what distracts a two-year-old may not work as well with a ten-year-old.

Noon

It’s lunchtime and there’s a noticeable uptick in energy on MS7, one of the hospital’s medical-surgical inpatient floors. It’s not just the food, however. Valentine the Clown is making the rounds in her bright pink wig and giant shoes. Children who, moments ago, were sad or anxious are now smiling and giggling as Valentine entertains with magic tricks and jokes. Parents aren’t immune to Valentine’s infectious style, either. Her presence offers a much-needed moment of relief and the joy of seeing their child laugh again.  

1:20 p.m.

Down the hall, Gaming & Technology Specialist Annie Goldsnider is setting up a videogame console for a teenaged boy facing a long hospital stay. To an outside eye, it looks like fun and distraction—and it is—but in the hands of Annie, videogames are also a therapeutic tool. Gaming gives patients a much-needed sense of mastery and normalcy, connects them with friends outside the hospital, and offers a way to cope with long days in bed. For teens, especially, it’s a reminder that they are still themselves, even in the hospital.

2:30 p.m.

On the fifth floor Medical-Psychiatric Integrated Care Unit, schoolwork is winding down for the day in the Travelers Community Room and an art therapy activity is beginning. This unit is one of only two in the entire New England region that can provide both inpatient medical and mental healthcare concurrently—coordination that is vital for a child whose chronic illness is also a heavy toll on their mental health. Stays on this unit can be lengthy and emotionally challenging, so arts and crafts, music, yoga, and other mindful entertainment programming boosts patients’ spirits and helps them express themselves.  

4:00 p.m.

A three-year-old in the hospital for asthma is not a fan of wearing the face mask that delivers his aerosolized medication. A Child Life specialist tries a variety of ways to get him to accept the mask, including putting the mask on a stuffed bear and a toy dinosaur. Still, he’s not having it. Finally, she asks the nurse whether he would get enough of the aerosolized medication if the mask were simply close to him. The nurse consents, and the Child Life specialist tapes the mask to the edge of the table where the boy is playing. That does the trick! Child Life specialists are endlessly creative in the face of an immoveable force (like a willful toddler). 

From toys to clown visits, the work of Connecticut Children’s Child Life team is supported by donors like you.