What services help kids adapt to their care?
Hospitals can be frightening for a child. Child life specialists use medical play to explain a procedure or test and provide coping techniques that help reduce the stress of hospitalization. They also offer art therapy, pet therapy, playrooms and special guest visits. This minimizes the negative impact associated with illness and injury while promoting growth and development of children using a family-centered approach to care.
Children’s hospitals are often the first stop on a long journey for those families with children who have chronic illness. Care teams at children’s hospitals understand how vital the parents’ and siblings’ role is in a child’s recovery or managing a medical condition.
At hospitals like Miller Children’s we have family resource centers and offer parent education and a parent-to-parent mentor program to ensure that families know how to manage the condition and help them connect with others sharing similar experiences.
How are children’s hospitals involved in the community?
Children’s hospitals serve as pediatric advocates in the health care community. Only 5 percent of all hospitals across the nation are children’s hospitals, so there is a responsibility to protect children. Outreach efforts may include wellness activities, health education, community programs that address common chronic diseases and safety initiatives to promote injury prevention.
Children’s hospitals also work closely with public health departments to offer education and access to needed health care. Their care also is extended to satellite clinics as well as health centers and schools.
In what ways can employers help?
Here are some ways businesses can help: Advocate for legislation to cover the 15 percent of California children who are without health insurance. Promote exercise programs and healthy foods in school cafeterias and vending machines. Collaborate with hospitals and physicians to offer workforce education on how your employees and their families can embrace healthier lifestyles.
Diana Hendel is CEO of Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach and Long Beach Memorial, which combined have 788 beds, making it among the West’s largest hospital campuses. The facilities are a member of the not-for-profit MemorialCare Health System, which includes Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente. For additional information on specialized pediatric care, visit millerchildrenshospitallb.org, and for more information on excellence in health care, visit memorialcare.org.
