Dressed in love for Halloween

Suffering from severe burns with her body swathed head to toe in flesh-covered bandages, the 5-year-old patient had one request: Could she dress up as a pretty little girl for Halloween?

Laura Gaynard and her crew of Child Life specialists at Primary Children's Medical Center made it happen. They found an elaborate party dress for the girl and she proudly wore it trick-or-treating at the hospital.

"The dress was all she wanted," recalls Laura, who keeps a photograph of the child in her office. "Even though she was wrapped in stretchy bandages, she felt pretty that day. That's what Halloween is all about here. Doing simple things to make a big difference."

Tomorrow morning, Laura, director of Child Life Services, and 15 employees will be up early, making sure that every child who wants to dress up at Primary Children's has a Halloween costume.

For most of the small patients, it's a chance to forget about surgeries, medication and hospital beds for a few hours and become Spider-Man, Spongebob or a storybook princess. For a few terminally ill children, it might be the last Halloween they experience.

Whether a child is dying from cancer or simply receiving stitches in the emergency room, everyone is given a chance to participate in the festivities, which begin with a Halloween skit in the morning and end with trick-or-treating and a costume parade.

"Halloween is a big deal for a child," says Laura, "but some families are under lots of stress. Some parents don't have time to think about costumes. So we'll take care of it for them."

Eager to share a few stories, Laura joined me on her lunch break for a Free Lunch of turkey sandwiches and tomato soup, along with Child Life specialists Joy Jacobsen and Juliana Powell.

"This is a hard day for me," says Joy, who helped two families say good-bye to terminally ill loved ones. "Every death is different — you never know how it will hit you. But it's a wonderful experience to help the families, even in times of sadness."

Child Life workers help fulfill wishes for dying patients and set up coping plans for parents and siblings. Using dolls and simple language, they also explain surgical techniques to young patients.

"We help them find ways to be brave," says Juliana. "One of our main focuses is to try and make the hospital as much like home as possible."