“Our role is to help the children, as well as the families, cope with the overall hospital experience,” Child Life Specialist Stacy Neblett says from education to support the child and their family to being there for hard procedures they are there to provide comfort to the children of Covenant.
These ladies are the ones families turn to for a smile and its easy to see why.
“We see patients from the time they get here, to the time they leave and throughout a large part of their medical journey. It’s just amazing, as we educate and the more knowledge and medical knowledge that they learn and experience and how they learn to cope process throughout the entire experience they go through is just an amazing process to watch,” said Brittany Selph.
Together Neblett and Selph make up Covenant Children’s Child Life team helping make hospital stays more comfortable for the youngest of patients.
“A lot of kids are really nervous when coming into the hospital,” said Neblett, “Especially having surgery or a procedure done.”
But it’s not just the patients who benefit from the specialists.
“It’s such an amazing thing to see from a child point of view supporting them and supporting their entire family as a whole,” said Selph about helping patients and families understand what’s going on.
“We take that information and describe it to a child’s developmental level so they understand what’s going on.” said Selph.
The two agree the job is a challenge but say as a Child Life specialist they remind each other to be positive bringing hope, encouragement and education to those they meet.
