While some of those funds will be put toward Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital’s new 12-bed inpatient psychiatry unit, $20 million will be used to create a permanent endowment for the Child and Family Life Team. Amy Davis is the Child and Family Life Manager at the hospital. She says their team plays an important role in normalizing the patient’s hospital visit.
“That comes in really forms of play, education, preparation, distraction, supporting, and offering coping skills so that they can navigate whatever it is they’re here in the hospital for.”
Examples of that would be music therapy in the form of songwriting for a child coping with a new diagnosis, or a hospital teacher helping a patient keep up with their studies during their stay.
“It’s so important that we meet all the family’s complex needs in their pyscho-social care and having the right tools and resources and the right team members a part of Child and Family Life is really important to the work that we do every day.”
Those tools include items like Chromebooks, musical instruments, and art supplies. Davis says that philanthropy is the reason this team can continue doing this important work.
“This gift really ensures our team’s future with our staff to meet the patient’s ever-changing, complex medical needs.”