At Greenville Hospital System’s Children’s Hospital, Child Life specialists help reduce the stress and anxiety that many children experience in hospital and healthcare settings. Children’s Hospital and adjacent Shriners Hospital have the only certified Child Life specialists in the Upstate.

"They not only help reduce the child’s fears by explaining medical procedures, they help children cope with the procedure and the strange, unfamiliar environment by providing activities designed for that purpose,” said Beth Ball, who directs the Child Life program at Children’s Hospital. “The goal-focused intervention aids children in understanding what is happening to them and getting through an event that is scary or painful. When children can master a medical experience like this, they leave with their self-esteem intact and the knowledge that they can trust the people like us who help take care of them. How children feel after the medical experience shapes their image and feelings about healthcare as they grow up. We want children to have a positive experience and not dread seeking medical assistance."

The profession's tools of the trade include everything from lip balm-scented face masks and bubbles to explanations about an upcoming procedure that a child can understand. During “medical play,” a Child Life specialist might help a child give an IV to a puppet in order to show how the straw-like tube delivers medicine to the body. In an operating room, they might show a patient how changing his breathing can make the numbers and lines on the monitor beside him fluctuate.

"Child Life and Family Studies" is its own college discipline, and all specialists have either a bachelor's or a master's degree in the subject or related subject such as psychology, sociology or therapeutic recreation. Specialists must also take additional classes including medical terminology and anatomy and physiology, as well as complete a practicum and a clinical internship. They must also pass the certification exam, given by the Child Life Council, as well as be recertified every five years.

Interested in an internship with Child Life? Click hereto download an application.

Interested in working with other Child Life organizations? Visit www.childlife.orgfor availiable opportunities.