Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Child life specialists:
Helping to ease patients’ fears
If I can show them
play
through
it helps calm
their fears.
Child life specialists are paramount to the success of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Renee Hunte, director of Child Life and Education, said the hospital’s focus on a family-centered approach is what makes them unique.
“We have trained experts who help the child understand their diagnoses and the procedures they’re going to have,” Hunte said.
Hunte joined ACH in 2013 after spending most of her 23-year career in other parts of the country, most recently as the child life department head at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.
“We intend to provide the same level of services in Northwest Arkansas that we have in Little Rock,” Hunte said.
The specialists help provide creative experiences for children, as well as provide normalcy and clarity about misconceptions they may have about being in the hospital.
“We use medical teaching dolls, where the children don’t have to use words or feelings or emotions to describe what’s going on with them,” Hunte said. “They can draw out or interpret what’s going on by using the doll.”
One of Hunte’s goals when she came to ACH was to start a music therapy program, the first of its kind in the state. She was able to complete that goal thanks to the support of generous donors.
“That was one of the ideas I had when I came here, and I’m glad that it was able to come to fruition,” Hunte said. “I am excited about the prospect of expanding the music therapy program to our clinic in Lowell and eventually to our new campus in Springdale.”
Hunte has spent more than 23 years in the profession, and said it is a very rewarding career.
“It’s just the relationships you build with the parents and families of the children you encounter,” Hunte said. “Some of these people are coming from very vulnerable states of mind or have been through an accident or some kind of trauma, and to see them come together and be able to help them is very rewarding.”
Drawn to it
Stephanie Dunlap came to Northwest Arkansas as a child life specialist after spending 16 years in Little Rock.
In May, she relocated to the ACH Clinic in Lowell and says it’s not much different from the work she was doing in the capital city, but that it has been a great change for her.
A typical day involves Dunlap arriving at the clinic and looking at the day’s patients to see who might need assistance.
“I’ve always loved children, and I’ve always been comfortable in the hospital setting,” Dunlap said. “I just kind of feel like I was drawn to it. Usually I just end up getting paged by the nurses, and I go wherever they tell me or wherever they need me.”
Dunlap believes that when the new ACH is built in Springdale, it will be extremely beneficial to this area.
“So many patients anddffamiliesl have to travel three hours or more to get things they need that could be done here at a facility,” Dunlap said. “It’s going to help them financially and it’s going to be convenient. I also think they will feel more at ease knowing that we have a hospital that specializes in children’s medical needs right here in their community.”
What differentiates a child life specialist from a nurse, according to Dunlap, is the specialist’s ability to provide education for what the child is going to see, feel and experience.
“We do education through play,” Dunlap said. “We take the medical equipment and let them play with it on a doll, and most of the time kids will do better if they see what is going to happen. If I can show them through play and let them take control of the situation, it helps calm their fears.”
The challenge, however, is that every child is different.
“You have to find a way to cater to what works for that child,” Dunlap said. “What works for one patient may not work for another. You’ve got to think on your feet and come up with ways that will benefit them and ease their fears in a way that they understand.”