Making the Season Bright

The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department helped patients and families celebrate the 2022 holiday season with a wide range of themed activities and opportunities. Children and teenagers engaged in art projects highlighting Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa traditions while a cart filled with cookies, warm beverages, and holiday crafts brought the spirit of the season on to the pediatric units. The KidZone TV December calendar featured a myriad of festive shows including a New York City Ballet performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, a potato latke cooking special, and holiday caroling hosted by the department’s talented music therapists. For the fourth consecutive year, the Zone’s pop up holiday shop, filled with a multitude of donated gifts, opened its doors for parents to select items at no cost for their hospitalized children and siblings. The grand opening featured a colorful giftwrapping station and art supplies to make personalized holiday cards. Last but not least, 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!

After a very long stay, one of our patients surprised our KidZone TVstaff with artwork created from one of her favorite activities, KZTV bingo! Made on a food tray, it has images from every bingo she played while with us. In the center, there is a heart, showing how much she loved playing along. This piece now hangs in the KZTV studio, reminding everyone how important these activities are, and how the honest, true and positive experiences we seek to create can help our patients and families during their hospitalization.

Staff Recharge Room

Hope Copperstone, Vice President of Nursing, Pediatric for the Mount Sinai Health System, recently gifted the Child Life & Creative Arts Therapy Department with a Nespresso Breville machine. All Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital employees are invited to enjoy a cup of espresso or coffee, along with a sweet treat, in the Zone’s “Recharge Room.”

Staff Accomplishments

In November 2022, Christina Auriemma presented a workshop titled, “Weaving in the Round: Fostering resiliency through weaving in the pediatric medical setting” at the American Art Therapy Association's National Conference in Minneapolis.

At the 2023 Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative, a poster presentation by Morgan Stojanowski and Jackie Craig will be featured: “What’s Going to Happen to Me Mom: Preparing a Teenager for the Loss of a Parent.”

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