With its strange smells and sounds, its unfamiliar rooms and people who poke and prod when you’re feeling sick—a hospital can be a scary place.

Helping children and their families cope with an illness or injury and keep their lives as normal as possible during treatment is the mission of the Child Life Program at Children’s Hospital of Alabama.

“We assess where children are developmentally, and work on the level they understand to explain procedures and reduce their fear,” Jennifer Deneke, Director of Family Services and the Child Life Program, said.  

Child Life specialists offer children and their families pre-admission and pre-surgical tours to help them become comfortable with the environment.

“For example, if a child is coming in for same-day surgery for ear tubes, we’d let him see where he will be and explain the equipment and what it does. We’ll explain anesthesia and let him try on a mask and practice breathing through it,” Deneke said.

When children are admitted for longer hospital stays, the staff of ten Child Life specialists work to plan age-appropriate activities between treatments that promote normal development and create an environment that feels as natural as possible.

“We start by looking at what children would be doing if they weren’t in the hospital. If the patient is a six-year-old girl, she might enjoy playing in the doll house in our activity room. We have a pretend kitchen where she can make pretend meals, and that offers us an opportunity to work on food issues if she hasn’t been eating well,” Deneke said. “The activity room has video games and board games where children can interact with other kids, and arts and crafts they can do and feel a sense of autonomy and a time in their day where they feel they have more control over their lives.

“Our Magic Room is where we show movies. If a child isn’t feeling up to getting out of bed, we bring bedside play and activities to them,” Deneke said. “We engage with children and their parents to determine their interests and the things they would be most likely to enjoy. Play and activities help children feel more at ease, and create a less stressful environment where healing can begin.”

 For school age children, the Sunshine School at Children’s Hospital has certified teachers to help young patients keep up with their school work.

“School is a familiar part of their world and adds structure to their day. It lets them continue learning and achieving. They don’t have to worry about falling behind, and it adds to the sense of normal life,” Deneke said.

Children also learn from each other. “During activities, the kids connect with other patients their age who have similar conditions,” Deneke said. “They swap tips about the best ways to get pills down and tricks for coping with the effects of treatment. It’s comforting for them to know they aren’t alone in this. There are other kids who are dealing with the same things. “

For teens facing a diagnosis of cancer, self image can be a big issue. Younger children may not know what cancer is and may fear that it is contagious.

“Different ages have different misconceptions about illness,” Deneke said. “We explain their condition in age-appropriate terms they can understand, answer questions and help them with coping skills. Before they have a procedure, we explain it so they can be more comfortable knowing what is going to happen.”

Child Life staff members are part of an interdisciplinary team caring for patients. They work closely with nursing, medicine, sociology, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. The program is now recruiting a Child Life specialist who will be assigned full time to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital.

From minor illnesses to major traumas involving multiple family members, the emergency cases a Child Life specialist sees could be almost anything.

“They will help prepare children so IVs and lumbar punctures are less stressful. They will distract them while they are getting stitches, and do whatever they can to minimize the fear of potentially traumatic situations,” Deneke said.

By helping to ease the stress of early encounters with the healthcare system, Child Life specialists may also be saving their young patients from a lifetime of anxiety and reluctance to seek care, helping them enjoy better health for a lifetime.