菲尔和唐娜·米勒最可怕的噩梦在2013年7月被证实。
A bump on their daughter’s arm turned out to be more than just a battle scar from soccer practice. Their 9-year-old girl, Hannah, was diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer in her right arm and needed to start treatment as soon as possible.
“She’s our one and only daughter, and to hear she had a disease like cancer was tough to take,” Phil Miller said. “You want the best for your children. We knew we were going to have a pretty tough road to fight, but we were going to beat it.”
Hannah was able to receive much of her medical care close to home atSanford Children’s Hospitalin Bismarck, North Dakota, but her family also traveled across the state to Fargo for advanced cancer care.
As part of her treatment, two cancerous bones from Hannah’s forearm were removed and replaced with a bone from her leg. For the following months, her arm and leg healed in casts.
喜欢踢足球和活跃的汉娜不能做她想做的事情。法戈的桑福德儿童医院的儿童生活专家让汉娜可以忍受那段时间。
What is child life?
儿童生活专业人士协会是医疗保健领域保守得最好的秘密之一。儿童发展专家被称为儿童生活专家，他们与医生和护士一起在幕后工作，以确保每个孩子都有最好的体验。
With well-established programs at Sanford Health in Fargo and Sioux Falls, child life services have helped improve pediatric outcomes, the quality of care and the overall patient and family experience. Families never see a bill for child life services.
Child life specialists help children and their families cope with the emotional stress and uncertainty of illness by:
- Engaging patients in therapeutic play to enhance self-healing.
- Creating care plans based on assessments of each child’s development, coping style, past medical experiences and family needs.
- Helping children understand a diagnosis and express their feelings.
- Preparing patients for and providing support during procedures.
- Supporting parents and siblings with family-centered care including grief and bereavement services.
- Organizing special events and activities with community partners.
Why is play so important?
When a child life specialist walks into the room, an IV becomes the world’s tiniest straw and a syringe transforms into a paintbrush, worthy of squirting bright colors onto a canvas instead of causing hurt. They blow bubbles in exam rooms and tell imaginative stories during MRIs. They read books to help kids understand what’s wrong and play familiar games to make them feel at ease.
这些只是儿童生活专家使治疗看起来像儿戏的许多方法中的一小部分。
Age-appropriate play is an essential, natural part of childhood, important in its own right. It’s more vital than ever during a hospital stay. For our pediatric patients, play and other therapeutic activities can help them not only prepare for what comes next but get better faster.
Play truly helps children heal by:
- Reducing pain and getting kids moving again.
- 帮助孩子了解和探索他们的世界。
- Providing a sense of safety and familiarity.
- 促进持续增长和发展。
- Helping explore feelings and learn about their diagnosis and treatment.
Helping Hannah
With child life by her side, Hannah learned to cope with her cancer diagnosis and keep herself busy during those long hospital stays.
“儿童生活服务对汉娜来说是一个惊人的福利，”唐娜说。“他们能够帮助缓解孩子们在困难时期感受到的压力、紧张和焦虑。”
When Hannah wasn’t feeling well, child life helped distract her from the pain and discomfort of treatment.
“I have a lot of fun with child life,” Hannah said. “They bring art projects into my room and take me to play in the playroom.”
在整个治疗过程中，俾斯麦的桑福德儿童医院能够为汉娜提供她需要的护理和治疗，同时知道她的朋友和家人就在附近，这让她感到更舒适。
The arts and crafts projects she worked on with child life in Fargo also gave her a way to make a difference for others.
During one stay at Sanford Children’s in Bismarck, Hannah walked around and counted how many other kids were in the hospital. Then she created a get-well card for each child. The process not only helped Hannah feel better, it brought joy to the other patients and their families.
“这只是汉娜如此特别的一个方面，”菲尔·米勒说。“我们看到我们的小女儿为比汉娜更早的孩子们提供支持和建议。她会给他们一些建议，告诉他们如何更好地处理事情。”
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Posted InCancer,Children's,Foundation
