The Mary Poppins Effect
Child life specialists empower children and their families to cope and adapt through play.
If you’ve ever had to take a child to the doctor, you know just how challenging it can be for even routine medical care. For children who receive emergency care or face chronic illness that brings them to the hospital, it can be even harder. They are typically scared or uncooperative, which can make treatment difficult. That’s where child life specialists like Kathleen Plymel come in.
Plymel has been a child life specialist with UF Health Jacksonville for more than 30 years. She knows a thing or two about working with children to reduce their fear of medical equipment, doctors and the hospital. In addition to her years of service, she’s guided more than 100 interns to become certified child life specialists through the hospital’s child life internship. For her, it’s a calling she’s had since second grade.
During each visit, Plymel’s most recent interns, Cameron and Katelyn, worked with her side-by-side in rotations in the emergency room and various pediatric intensive care units based on patient needs and referrals. The child life specialist assesses, treats, intervenes and evaluates patients using a family-centered care model. Their mission is to empower children and their families to cope and adapt through play.
One tool at their disposal is the “Bravery Boost” menu created as an internship project of a former student. The menu includes developmental activities and therapeutic tools to provide each child with a choice in their care journey, with the goal of making them feel more comfortable. Some of the activities include creating a worry wand or a superhero mask to help them face their fear of medical treatment.
“We’ll often allow a child to play with various medical objects ahead of their procedure to help desensitize them to the equipment,” said Katelyn. “We explain how items work and they can learn about things like an IV or splint, which at first can seem foreign and intimidating.”
Kathleen Plymel and her 2019 summer interns, Cameron and Katelyn, rotated in the emergency room and pediatric intensive care units based on patient needs and referrals.
Stacy Collins, RN, a nurse in the Pediatric Emergency Room at UF Health Jacksonville, not only experiences the incredible impact of child life specialists while at work every day, but her family was recently on the receiving end of their care. Her son was having severe stomach pains and she brought him in for treatment. When it was discovered his pain was a larger issue that required surgery, the team of child life specialists came for a visit to help prepare him for surgery.
“My son was given a heart-shaped pillow and a teddy bear to comfort and accompany him during his stay in the hospital. The simple gestures that will be a lasting memory of the excellent care he received during his time here,” said Collins.
Collins says her son thinks the world of his bear and the way he was treated by the entire care team.
Her son stated, “My bear kept me calm whenever I was nervous, like when I was in the operating room waiting for surgery. I hugged him tight.”
The staff even allowed the teddy bear to go back to the operating room with her son, but made sure that the bear was properly equipped with a mask and hat. When he was in post-op, the teddy bear was still at his side with a bandage on his belly.
“It is always a valuable asset when the child life specialists are available to assist during procedures. They prepare children in age appropriate ways and create useful distractions,” said Collins.
Stacy Collins' son plays with the teddy bear that the child life specialists gave him before surgery.
Plymel takes pride in her job and enjoys helping to humanize health care. As a team of one and at times, with interns by her side, she stays busy floating around the hospital to provide services. She places special value on the mutual respect she and the pediatric staff have for each other.
“Our entire team supports what we do and we’ve learned to adapt together to provide the highest quality of care to the children and families we work with,” said Plymel. “It is so rewarding to hear a child tell their family member they conquered a fear and got through what could have been a truly terrible day for them otherwise.”
Visit UFHealthJax.org/child-life to learn more about the Child Life Program at UF Health Jacksonville.
