EIRMC is privileged to have a Child Life Specialists on staff. This healthcare professional focuses onyour child’s psychological and social health, and can help guide you navigate the “ins and outs” of your child’s hospital experience.
Diana Moll is EIRMC’s certified Child Life Specialist and focuses on several goals during your child’s stay:
- Using play therapy to ease your child’s fears or anxiety about hospitalization and treatment
- Making the hospital visit seem less scary by helping your child understand why they are in the hospital and what procedures and medications are for
- Providing support for siblings of hospitalized children, too
- Helping you to explain medical treatments and care in child-friendly ways
Diana uses therapeutic medical play involving dolls or stuffed animals and medical equipment to help explain your child’s medical condition and procedure they are having. She also uses diversion tools to distract children when nurses draw blood and start IV’s, for example.
Our Child Life Specialist works with everyone on your child’s care team, including doctors, nurses and surgeons, to you, your children, and your support system.
Diana is highly trained and skilled in her role as a Child Life Specialist and has a college degree in Art Therapy. But there’s more to it than even that. Our Child Life Specialist has completed a 600 hour internship at a children’s hospital. Certification is also required, much like doctors who undergo board certification to practice medicine. Certification ensures that our Child Life Specialist is well prepared to help your child and family during challenging times.
Pre-Surgery Tours
Our Child Life Specialist also offers pre-surgery tours to help familiarize a child/teen to the environment and medical equipment. These tours can help ease a child’s anxieties, and to clear up misconceptions that a child may have about surgery. The tour is offered to patients and family to help prepare them for this experience. During the tour, the Diana will use developmentally appropriate education and therapeutic play, in order for the patient to understand and participate during their care.
If you are interested in scheduling a free pre-surgery tour, please call EIRMC’s Child Life Specialist at (208) 529-7288.