Child Life Specialists at TMH Ease Fears, Anxiety
April 10, 2024By: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare
Categories: Pediatrics
Hospital or doctor visits can be scary and cause anxiety for anyone. Patients often oscillate between the feeling of having too many unknowns and too much information. Physicians and healthcare teams intentionally spend much of their time explaining diagnoses, procedures and treatments to adult patients and their families. The amount and complexity of information learned in these interactions can feel overwhelming. Now imagine you’re a child navigating the healthcare journey of your parent, your sibling or yourself.
At Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH), we provide Child Life services to our pediatric patients and young patient family members. In fact, TMH is home to the region’s only Child Life Program, designed to put children at ease and reduce anxiety while in a healthcare setting. Our certified Child Life Specialists manage the Child Life Program and are pivotal members of the Pediatrics team.
About the Child Life Specialist Role
The Child Life profession in America began informally in the 1920s. A group of forward-thinking women developed Child Life into an established field in the mid to late 1960s. During the 1970s, the number of Child Life programs increased dramatically, and colleges developed curriculum that incorporated hospital internships, creating the role of Child Life Specialist.
The Child Life Specialist helps children understand why they are in the hospital and what will happen next. Child Life Specialists have received education and training in child development and children’s reactions to hospitalization.
Child Life Specialists use developmentally-appropriate communication and exercises to:
- Explain medical information such as diagnoses, procedures and treatments
- Promote effective coping while in the hospital
- Promote self-expression while in the hospital
- Assist with their continued growth once discharged
- Help make the hospital feel more friendly and comfortable
Meet Zoe, a TMH Child Life Specialist
Zoe Zablocki is one of the Child Life Specialists at TMH. Working with a child’s family and the healthcare team, she serves as a child’s resource and advocate during healthcare decisions. Zoe engages with children by demonstrating procedures or medical devices on stuffed animals, distracting them with grounding techniques to reduce pain or anxiety during procedures and offering activities for play to promote healthy development.
Zoe says, “During sterile procedures conducted when they are awake, I’m able to stay with patients and distract them with breathing exercises or videos on their tablets.” By easing stress and anxiety, Zoe helps kids gain a sense of comfort and control in the hospital environment.
Zoe mainly works with young patients and their siblings, but her role also significantly supports parents and guardians. Zoe offers child supervision to parents who need to leave the room for lunch, a phone call or just a walk outside. Additionally, adult patients admitted to TMH who have young children with them may also receive a visit from Zoe. With a simple call from a TMH team member, she can relieve the children from the patient room or waiting area to the Mike Martin Family Playroom and help them understand what is happening to their loved one.
When kids are involved, Child Life Specialists are considered a full member of the healthcare team. Each day, Zoe reviews the census of young patients in the hospital and prioritizes the needs based on procedures or patients here longest. She has access to patient charts and receives reports on patients during shift changes. In Zoe’s experience, her young patients tell her things they are not comfortable telling physicians. She puts this information and her own observations in their chart so the entire treatment team has access to it.
How Zoe Got Into Child Life as a Career
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Zoe pursued Child Life after benefiting from their services in elementary school when she met a Child Life Specialist during her brother’s stay at a hospital. Zoe said, “They helped me so much. They cared for my brother, but they also support me with his experience and made such an impact that I knew from elementary school: this is what I want to do.”
Zoe earned her bachelor of science degree in Family and Human Services: Introduction to Child Life and her master of science degree in Child Life, Administration and Family Collaboration, both from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Zoe earned her degrees in an accelerated program, completing the program in five years instead of the traditional six. Zoe then completed a necessary part of certification, a six-month Child Life Internship, at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia.
Working for TMH
This is her first position after school. “I’ve finally made it,” she said. She accepted the position at TMH “sight unseen,” she joked. “I know – brave and bold.”
Zoe has quickly made Tallahassee her home. A high-energy personality, she works some of her energy out with physical activity. She’s an avid CrossFitter and has a membership at a local Tallahassee gym. She also loves to create anything with fiber art (knitting, crocheting, etc.) and has even crocheted a few stomas onto the stuffed bears in the Pediatric Unit. “I need to keep my hands busy,” she warned with a laugh.
Zoe plans to keep busy at TMH with the supervisory duties included in her role. She wants to take interns of her own once she reaches the clinical hours needed to supervise students. Zoe offers her advice to students interested in pursuing Child Life: “Think about it one step at a time. Find a mentor to guide you through the process. It is 100% worth pushing through roadblocks.”
She also recommends Child Life candidates broaden their clinical knowledge. “Scoop up information from nurses, talk directly to surgeons or physician — ask them to explain why they need the medicine or surgery,” she advised. “You need to understand that information so you can explain it to the children.”
As one of less than 500 Child Life Programs in the United States, we are proud to offer these services as part of our robust Pediatric Care at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. We are currently seeking another dedicated Child Life Specialist for our Northeast Emergency Center. If you are interested in becoming a Child Life Specialist, please visit TMH.CARE/childlife.
