Evenings at Cook Children’s Hospital

As most of you know, I am a Child Life volunteer at Cook Children’s Hospital. However, many of you have asked what exactly I do during my evenings at the hospital. For those of you that are curious, here is a brief synopsis.

As a Child Life volunteer, I work directly with patients and their families. This means that I do not answer phones or assist visitors but rather I have direct contact with patients. Every Monday night I check in at a computer and make contact with my supervisor who is a Child Life Specialist. I then receive a list of duties to complete during my evening at the hospital. Sometimes I may make five more trips back to the office to receive more duties and sometimes the initial list may be sufficient during my stay.

A typical evening may include a variety of tasks including: checking on new patients and their families, helping families to get settled in a new room or within the hospital, retrieving personal items for patients and families, sitting with patients who either do not have families or whose families are eating a meal/taking a break, playing with siblings of patients, or even cleaning up community areas in the hospital.

My favorite task is spending time with the patients. I have spent time with two week olds and fifteen year olds. I have sat with children who could not utter a word but simply wanted me to hold their hand and I have engaged in vigorous Wii matches. I have been assigned to one particular patient for several weeks and I have met eight different patients in one night. Each week is a new experience.

During the summer, my time with patients is a bit more limited as there are more volunteers. It is wonderful to see so many volunteers however; I am looking forward to things settling down a bit. I anxiously await my evening each week and always have stories to tell Jason. The fun part is that I cannot reveal any details about patients and their familes so everyone has made up names and the details are scrambled a bit. Our house favorite is the name “Bobby Bobby”, given to both girls and boys alike.

Regardless of the names or the specifics, I thoroughly enjoy my time within the hospital and I have acquired so many memories of inspiring children and their families. This experience has made it very clear what I am destined to do and I am immensely thankful for this clarity. Yay, kids!

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