This week, I met a family who was devastated by their healthy baby randomly coding, escalating into pretty immediate brain death, and therefore dragging them into the longest three days of their lives. I met the family shortly after the code had happened and the child was intubated. The doctors needed to place an art…
Category: Jessica’s Stories
Runner Ups and Second Chances
I’ve had several students express strong, emotional feelings about getting an offer on second offer day. “They didn’t pick me first” “They didn’t want me first” “They wanted someone else and then chose me when the other student said no” Did you know that the song, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”- one of…
Hustling and Confident for the Last Seven Years
I have always had a passion for students. Taking it way back to when I was a child playing with my sister, I was always the teacher during our pretend play. I had toyed with the idea of going to school to be a teacher, but didn’t love the aspect of a room full of…
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Rainbows are bright spots usually appearing in bleak weather. They are colorful bridges that blend their hues together to make an optical phenomenon. Rainbows are also fleeting – when you catch a glimpse of one, soak it in while you can! You know who else does that? Child life specialists. The Bright Spots In a…
Death, Jesus and Memory Making
I was asked this question a month ago: “I have always wondered about how child life services are implemented for death and dying situations, specifically coming from a fellow Christ-follower. I know it’s not professional to bring spirituality into the interventions, but it gives me conflicting thoughts. What are your thoughts and experiences…?” Death and…
Pet Pig Named Moana
Interviews are so nerve-wrecking. How do you remain yourself throughout the interview? How do you make sure that you’re not just a shell of a person answering all of the questions “correctly”? I’ve got the answer here!
Everything Is Awesome on Pediatrics/PICU
I worked on the Pediatric/Pediatric Intensive Care Units for 6 years. Here are a few of my tips for making the most of your interactions with staff, patients, and families. Constant Rounding Nothing says “I’m child life and I’m here to party” quite like constantly making yourself seen and known. We have a child life…
Beating Bulletin Board Boredom
If there’s one quality that every child life specialist should have – it’s creativity; whether that takes the form of decor and education for the unit, arts and crafts activities for patients, or quick and creative solutions to problems – it is an absolute must! One of my favorite ways of expressing my creativity is…
You Look Like You Belong There
In 2015, I applied to my dream job at St. Jude Children’s Hospital. I grew up with the idea of St. Jude – seeing the commercials on TV, feeling for those children battling cancer – growing up, I thought I would be a nurse there. I went to college and decided prior to signing up…
creativi-TEA-party
Some days, we’re called to help with things that feel like it’s hopeless to even try… like pill swallowing and drinking water. “Could you help my six-year-old buddy learn to swallow pills?” “Oh sure, I’ll go grab my magic wand, wave it over his throat, and magically he’ll feel comfortable enough to swallow his pill.”…
I Don’t Have The Stomach For This
“I don’t have the stomach to be a nurse and I don’t like science enough to be a doctor” I asked a student what made her choose child life, and this was her quote that I quickly scribbled down as I felt it was so relatable to so many of us. Many of us find…
A Hip, A Hop, A HIPAA Violation
While employed at the hospital, I participated in Schwartz Rounds. The first time I went, what I thought was going to be a lecture, turned out to be a ‘join-me-at-the-table discussion’ with doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, child life specialists, volunteers, and students. We discussed the very delicate topic of “What Happened To My Patient?”…
Child Life, Wild Life 