Jackie and Moby Support Wellness at MSQ In the summer of 2023, Moby and Jackie reinvigorated their work at Mount Sinai Queens by attending the annual National Walking Day Event. They are dedicated to visiting staff at this offsite campus three times per month to spread well-being and resilience. Moby and Jackie are able to visit the entire hospital and outpatient areas during their time at MSQ. They have supported over 900 staff faculty, and students from May to September. In the fall, their work will also include the FHA building for staff who support outpatient family visits.
Welcome, Kaleigh, to the Paws & Play Team
Kaleigh Bieling and Amos enjoy some bonding time.
Kaleigh Bieling, Certified Child Life Specialist, jointed the Paws & Play team as Amos’ secondary handler. Kaleigh and Amos work together primarily in the PICU and PCICU. Her work with Amos includes seeing patients and families in the ICUs to help support socialization, positive coping, and normalization of the environment. Amos and Kaleigh work alongside other modalities, like physical therapy, to provide co-treat sessions with patients to increase motivation and personalization of treatment plan goals. Amos enjoys staff support sessions by making rounds of the units and getting lots of pets and love, helping to provide comfort for the staff in the PICU/PCICU. Kaleigh will also be working to integrate Amos into her work in the outpatient cardiac clinic.
Spirit Week Shines a Light on Hem/Onc Patients In September, Professor celebrated Pediatric Cancer and Sickle Cell Awareness Month with the hematology/ oncology team. Professor and his clinical handlers dressed up in red, gold, tie dye and superhero gear to honor the hematology/oncology patients he works with every day. Another highlight of this year’s awareness month was the special Kid Zone TV shows, including blood cell making with special patient guest host, Mekai, and making awareness month bandanas with Professor. Our facility dog teams continue to be dedicated to supporting one of our most vulnerable patient populations, and love celebrating our hematology/oncology warriors.
Amos Brings a Special Touch to a Teen Patient A therapeutic AAT intervention we would like to highlight is Kaleigh’s work with a teenage scoliosis patient. This patient and her caregivers benefitted tremendously from spending time with Amos throughout their admission. The patient enjoyed having Amos lay in bed with her, doing arts and crafts, but most of all work with her to go on walks with physical therapy. In collaboration with physical therapy, Kaleigh set up photos of Amos throughout the hallway for the patient to look for and collect throughout her walk. When she returned to her room from her walk, Amos and Kaleigh were inside to congratulate her on her first walk post-surgery. This patient and her caregivers shared appreciation and gratitude throughout their admission for Amos helping to make their stay more comfortable and promote motivation and positive coping.