CHEO Child Life program helping kids feel at ease while at the hospital
A hospital experience can be scary for a young child or teen. Whether it’s a serious diagnosis, life changing surgery or the start of chemotherapy, the Child Life Services program at CHEO aims to help kids feel at ease.
For 10-year-old Audrey Sine, it makes dealing with cancer less stressful.
“I like hanging out with them and I like doing crafts,” said Sine. “They're very fun to play with and stuff.”
At CHEO, child life specialists bring the healing power of play through games, crafts and music therapy.
“We are the protectors of childhood,” said Maureen Jones, who works in the Child Life Services department. “We've been given an opportunity to enter a field or an environment where children are often stressed and often exposed to having to build resilience much earlier than the average child, because illness is a journey that can have some significant ups and downs.”
The program has touched thousands of lives over nearly 50 years.
Denise Alcock, first brought the idea to CHEO in the 1970’s.
“It’s wonderful just to see how it's grown and developed, because I always feel what we did was lay a foundation and grow a program. But it has grown magnificently,” said Alcock, who is now retired.
What started as five staff members, has grown to 20, with nearly no wait list for patients.
It’s all funded by community donors and is accessible to any child at the hospital.
“There's no one-size-fits-all, so it's getting to know the child and it's usually through, as I said, assessment, but also building that therapeutic relationship, having an opportunity to have environments like the playroom, which are considered safe spaces,” said Jones.
For the young ones in the program, it’s a chance to feel like a kid again while building resilience for the challenges ahead.
“I love being creative,” said Sine.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.
B.C. man 'attacked suddenly' by adult grizzly near Alberta boundary: RCMP
A B.C. man is recovering from multiple injuries after he was "attacked suddenly" by an adult grizzly bear near Elkford Thursday afternoon.
His SUV was stolen on Montreal's South Shore. Then he got a $156 parking ticket
A couple is frustrated after their SUV was stolen from Montreal's South Shore in March and they received a parking ticket for the same vehicle last week.
Box tree moths have infested Ontario and experts say more are coming. Here's what to do to protect your garden
An invasive moth species is on the rise in Canada and, if you've planted a certain shrub, it could stand to ruin your garden.
Banking mogul suing government after intelligence leaks leave him shut out of Canadian economy
Chinese Canadian banking mogul Shenglin Xian has launched a $300 million lawsuit against the federal government. It’s a means to find the source of intelligence leaks which Xian says has cost him his livelihood.
Impaired driver sentenced to 7 years after double-fatal Cambridge crash
A man who killed two people in a drunk driving crash was sentenced Friday to seven years behind bars.
Online obituary business from Quebec City catching flak for posting unauthorized death notices
Some within the funeral home and mortuary services industries in Quebec say they are frustrated with an online obituary site that publishes death notices from public information posted on the internet. They claim the site is doing so without consent from the families.
Serial sexual offender linked to unsolved 1970s homicides of four Calgary girls, women
An investigation into unsolved historical homicides from the 1970s has linked the deaths of two girls and two young women in and around Calgary to a now-deceased serial offender.
The latest advice for expecting parents? Sign up for child care as soon as you're pregnant
Canada's new $10-a-day child care program is expanding, but there's growing evidence that demand for the program is rising even faster, leaving many parents on the outside looking in.