Child-life specialists ease stress for young patients

PROVO — When 3-year-old Kea Denny ended up in the hospital twice last July with a stomach virus, she wasn't happy.

Like any young child, she doesn't like being sick, and she hates needles.

But after meeting Debbie Draper, she was all smiles.

That's because Draper's official duties as a child-life specialist at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center are to provide child-friendly activities to ease children's fears and maintain their regular schedules during their stay.

"If they don't understand what's happening to them, it's like torture for them because pain equates punishment for children," Draper said. "They aren't little adults. We do have to approach them differently."

Any day, Draper can be found singing songs with the children, drawing pictures or leading them in a game. She helps older child patients do their homework so they don't fall behind in school. And she translates complicated medical procedures in kid terms.

She even helped one teenager recreate prom in his hospital room. Hospital staff helped him deck out in a tuxedo top, and his prom date came dressed to the nines.

"It so important to help kids have a normal life when they're in the hospital," said Sonrisa Hasselbach, a child-life intern at UVRMC. "It helps them feel like they're at home."

Each child who spends time in the pediatric unit at UVRMC also gets to choose a small doll. As the children receive various medical procedures, they get to also do them on their dolls.

By the time they leave the hospital with the patients, the dolls bear as many wounds and Band-Aids as their owners.

One girl carefully inserted an IV into her doll's arm while Draper talked to her about the tube's purpose.

"Just like mine," the girl said with a smile, proudly holding her IV up for Draper to see.

Seeing children smile makes Draper smile. She said she enjoys her work because she knows she makes a difference in the lives of children during a difficult time.

Without proper explanation, Draper said children can make erroneous assumptions about their conditions. One girl, she said, thought that she would die as soon as her IV bag ran out.

As a result, she didn't sleep through the night because she was fearfully watching each drip of her IV disappear.

"I give them enough details that they understand what's happening or what they might experience, but I don't give them too many details," Draper said. "I tell them just enough so they aren't afraid."

UVRMC isn't the only hospital that offers child-life specialists — all Intermountain Healthcare hospital offer them, and others are joining suit.