Southeast Hospital
Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital is pleased to offer the Child Life Services of Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. Child Life is the first such program available in a community hospital in the southeast Houston area.
A hospital stay can be a stressful experience for a child. Memorial Hermann Southeast offers Child Life Services to empower children, adolescents and their families to master the challenges related to illness, injury and hospitalization, through play to facilitate healing, coping and self-expression. Child Life specialists believe that play is the way children exercise their minds through creativity, their bodies through activity and their souls through expression.
- Help pediatric patients and their siblings cope with hospitalization
- Provide emotional support, therapeutic play, positive interactions, developmental interventions and recreational opportunities for all pediatric patients
- Provide information about medical and surgical procedures to children through books, photos, brochures, coloring books, medical play dolls and real medical equipment
- Assist children and families of adult ICU patients with issues related to their family member’s hospitalization
- Facilitate homebound school services and hospital-based tutoring
- Provide educational community outreach programs, such as the “Hello Hospital” Program
- Plan holiday and seasonal activities for hospitalized children
- Support children and their families during medical procedures
- Provide pre-procedure educational tours for pediatric imaging and preoperative tours
- Through education and medical play, the Child Life specialist can prepare your child/teen by utilizing an age appropriate explanation for the MRI procedures, need for sedation and recovery process
- Provide developmentally appropriate interventions for infants in the Level III NICU as well as preparation for siblings who will be visiting the NICU for the first time
Child Life Services are available in all pediatric care areas at Memorial Hermann Southeast, including Day Surgery, Imaging, Pediatric 4B unit, the NICU, and the Emergency Center. All activities are geared toward the developmental age of the child and include group interactions when appropriate, personalized play activities in patient rooms and activities in other areas where children are awaiting treatment, with the help of the Art While You Wait Program sponsored by the Art for Life Foundation.
Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital provides a family preoperative tour Monday through Friday by appointment only. Parents and children are invited to attend the free tour for children, aged 2 to 11, scheduled for surgery at Children’s Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital. The tour will simplify the technology and equipment you and your child may be exposed to at Children’s Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital. It is also designed to answer any questions you have and to help reduce anxiety.
During the tour you will visit:
- Outpatient admitting area
- Preadmission testing
- Same Day Unit or Pediatric Unit
- Recovery Room
- Family Waiting Room
To schedule your journey, call Julie McCarthy, Child Life Specialist, at 281-929-4469 and ask for the preoperative tour for children having surgery.
“
Our Child Life specialist is available for presentations at schools to educate students about hospital visits and Child Life services. At the end of the program, students will have a better understanding of the role and the requirements for becoming a Child Life specialist. Students will be shown medical equipment to learn how Child Life uses play to educate young patients. They will have an opportunity to play dress-up with hospital gowns, scrubs, stethoscope, and surgical hats and masks. They will also learn about the History of Child Life and how it helps children cope with the hospital experience here at Memorial Hermann Southeast.
From parent: My 2-year-old daughter had an MRI at Memorial Hermann Southeast and “the staff was absolutely EXCELLENT!! Due to her age, she had to be sedated under anesthesia and I was so pleased with the Anesthesiologist. He fully explained everything that he would be doing around the anesthesia and stayed with her all through recovery. The recovery Nurses were just wonderful and made sure I was okay during the wait for my daughter to come out of the MRI and through recovery. The Child Life Specialist was absolutely wonderful as well. She stayed with me from the time my daughter went in for her MRI all the way through the recovery and reassured me that all was going well during the procedure to be completed and it was such a relief for me. My daughter just loved her.”
If you feel your child would benefit from preparation and a tour prior to their hospital visit or if your child is having difficulty coping, please ask your medical team to contact Child Life for you. All services provided by Child Life are free of charge to you and your insurance carrier.
For more information, please contact Julie McCarthy, Child Life specialist, at 281-929-4469.