DISCOVER The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department
February 2022
A Kid’s Place for COVID Vaccines When Mount Sinai Hospital’s pediatric vaccine pod opened in the fall of 2021, staff from the hospital’s Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department were on hand to support the children. While the development of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 years old brings great excitement and optimism in the fight against COVID-19, for many children getting an injection can be a scary experience filled with apprehension. Child life specialists worked with children and their caregivers to identify coping strategies to mitigate fears and anxieties related to receiving the vaccine. Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, the provision of popular items such as iPads or bubbles to help alternate focus, and comfort positioning where a child is securely held in a caregiver’s lap are just a few of the ways the child life specialists worked alongside the medical team to enhance the patient experience. Special thanks to certified child life specialists Leora Zomick, Cheryl Strauss, Allie Martin, Sydney Epstein, and Ruthie Charendoff (child life intern) for providing warm and caring support to our pediatric patients and their families. In addition to child life specialists, music therapists provided therapeutic modalities for coping during the injection. Providing live, environmental music throughout the space, this offering set a calming tone to an otherwise stressful environment. Special thanks go to music therapists Todd O’Connor, Jasmine Edwards and Olivia Centonza (music therapy intern) for coordinating this exceptional dimension to the vaccine pod. The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy team made sure that children left their visit feeling proud of their accomplishment. In addition to receiving a vaccine sticker, there were also activity books and other fun give-away items available for children to use during the vaccine observation period and to take home from their visit. The vaccine pod created a unique opportunity to bring the presence of child life and music therapy to new areas of the hospital, in addition to collaborating with medical professionals from other departments. “This is a kid’s place,” exclaimed one pediatric patient who came for her vaccine.
Paws and Play: Holiday Happenings with Professor, Amos and Moby Professor, Amos and Moby enjoyed time off and celebrations with their families during the holidays. Moby worked on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to help patients and families celebrate with Santa and his helpers by bringing toys to each patient’s room to spread some holiday magic. Moby also worked on New Year’s Day to help patients and families ring in 2022 by accompanying the coffee cart from room to room for patients and families. Each one of our dogs continues to bring memorable moments to patients, families and staff. Amos, Moby, and Professor are excited to see what 2022 has in store! LB 2019
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Child Life Services in the Electric Monitoring Unit As the child life specialist on the Electric Monitoring Unit (EMU), certified child life specialist Sydney Epstein works with patients and families to enhance their experience from admission to discharge. Sydney works alongside a specially trained medical team to provide care to EMU patients. Patients who are admitted to this unit are monitored with a video EEG, which is a monitoring system that requires leads to be placed on a patient’s head. Patients are usually monitored for 24 hours, but sometimes require continuous monitoring for longer periods. On day of admission, patients are called ahead of arrival and given information on their hospitalization. They are told to bring comfort items and are informed about child life services. Upon arrival, Sydney provides preparation for the lead placement, procedural support during placement and medical play for post procedural support. Distractions, such as iPads, games, fidget toys or sensory items, and supportive language is used to help patients remain still while the technician places the leads on their head. Once the leads are placed, Sydney works closely with the patient and their family throughout their admission to enhance coping and understanding and to provide play opportunities. Patients also engage with music therapy, art therapy, animal assisted therapy, and more throughout admission. The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy team is a vital part of the EMU patient experience. Patients and families continue to express appreciation and share feelings of relief and confidence through the support provided by child life daily.
Magical Highlight: Magical Moments by Tyler Gibgot Tyler Gibgot, an amazing teenage magician, joins us every month via our in-house TV station, KidZone TV. During "Magic with Tyler", patients are entertained and for a little while magically transported out of their daily difficulties into a moment of mystery, fun and excitement. Tyler shares how he has overcome his own medical challenges in order to follow his passion. In a recent show, Tyler rekindled one patient's interest in magic, and even taught our viewing audience a new card trick to share with their families at home. THANK YOU Tyler for bringing these moments of magic to Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital!
Making the Season Bright The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department helped patients and families celebrate the 2021 holiday season with a wide range of themed activities and fun opportunities. At the holiday party in the Child Life Zone, children engaged in art projects highlighting Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa traditions. The holiday cheer was spread around the hospital as a special treat and an activity cart was brought to patient units to provide cookies and festive holiday crafts to patients and caregivers at their bedside. The KidZone TV December calendar featured a myriad of seasonal shows including a delicious gingerbread special with the hospital’s executive chef. Thanks to a generous gift from the New York City Ballet, KidZone TV also had the opportunity to broadcast a 90-minute production of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” throughout the month. For the third consecutive year, the Zone’s holiday shop opened its doors in early December. Filled with a multitude of donated gifts, the shop was open throughout the month for parents to select items at no cost for their hospitalized children and their siblings to enjoy. The season would not be complete without a bedside visit from Santa and his elves, which our patients enjoyed both in person and virtually direct from the North Pole. We want to thank our many donors for helping us make this holiday season so special!
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New Pediatric Emergency Department Opening in the Spring The Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) renovation is nearing completion and staff Is excited about moving into a bigger, more inviting space after occupying temporary space during the construction phase. The new space features three trauma/resuscitation bays where staff can attend to critical patients who need immediate care. There are three closed-door rooms for patients who need isolation or need more privacy. One of these new rooms is a low stimulation room – a space that caters to neuro-diverse patients through creating a calming, quiet environment. This room will house a range of sensory materials/toys and includes its own bathroom. Around the corner, there are ten curtained areas used for acute patients and six fast-track patient recliners. Throughout the new space, there will be interactive floor and wall games for the patients to play, as well as tablets with games, video apps and translation capability. The space also includes a family room for sensitive conversations. Part of the PED renovation project also included the addition of more pediatric specific nurses, and BAs, to ensure a quicker and more efficient triage process. We are excited for our new space and all of its possibilities.
The Use of Music Therapy to Support Bonding Music therapy can help to support bonding and attachment between caregivers and children during hospitalization. This practice becomes particularly relevant when working with infants and their families, as music may be indicated to support regulation and sleep. The music therapists at Kravis Children’s Hospital work collaboratively with families to identify preferred music that can be utilized throughout a child’s hospitalization to support healthy attachment. Once a song is identified, the music therapist can modify it in a way that perpetuates a calm, soothing environment and facilitate meaningful connection. This practice aims to honor the music that is significant and culturally specific to each family system. The music therapists also offer some education around the importance of the parent’s voice to the infant and how speaking and singing to infants is important for the bonding and development. The clip and audio featured here are from a session that occurred in our Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PCICU). During this session, both parents were at bedside, and mom was holding her baby for the first time during this hospitalization. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley was identified as a meaningful song that she sang before her son went in for his surgery. This session was held as the family prepared for discharge, so singing this familiar song in this moment helped to acknowledge and reflect on the hospital experience. In this clip, mom sings to her child as the music therapist supports her singing with guitar accompaniment, played in a slow, lullaby format.
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KidZone TV Corner KZTV is our in-house TV studio which airs five shows daily for our patients and families. Our studio crew, clinical staff, special guests and especially our patients create shows which inform, entertain, and explore the creativity of our community. Recently KZTV aired live shows in Instagram and connected with our growing family of viewers. Visit KZTV’s Instagram feed @kztvlive to watch three of these full shows, led by our Art Therapist Christina, Music Therapist Jasmine, and Child Life Specialist, Gretchen. Christina Auriemma, Art Therapist
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Jasmine Edwards, Music Therapist
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Gretchen Greenlee, Child Life Specialist
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Creative Arts Therapy: Patient Highlight Creative arts therapies are offered to patients with an interest in the arts as a form of expression and developmental growth. Creative arts therapists collaborate closely with the unit child life specialists to coordinate and create therapeutic experiences for patients and families. Examples of the creative arts are: Art Therapy, Music Therapy, and Video Therapy. Our creative arts therapy staff supports the developmental needs of patients from the youngest child through teenagers, encouraging creativity and offering additional avenues for expression and coping. In the span of a week, Bakary gained hands-on experience in acting, directing and editing a video project using iMovie. He plans to use these new skills to start a TikTok channel. “The ghost truck is a magic truck that can speed through fire,” Bakary shared. He showed mastery of a new skill and pride in the finished project; he also used the building process as a distraction from pain. Bakary’s video project will also be featured in our spring 2022 edition of REFLECTIONS.
Video: Bakary Keita, 18, created a “Ghost Fire Truck” using a “Dances With Wood” kit during his last admission. The building process was filmed as a time-lapsed video with the help of Jeremy Martin, art therapist.
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