031: Empowering Families and Reducing Hospital Anxiety with Amy Carter
When you’re in the thick of a hospital journey or visit, even the simplest tasks can leave you feeling disheartened. Suddenly, finding parking, getting food, asking questions, and preparing for the next visit can become overwhelming and daunting.
But there are extraordinary professionals out there whose entire career revolves around guiding, comforting, and empowering parents and children during their hospital visits and stays. My guest today, Amy Carter, is one of those amazing people.
Amy Carter has been a Child Life Specialist for almost 24 years and works closely with an incredible team at the UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital. Their ultimate goal is to support children and families in all areas of the medical center, from clinic visits to procedure areas, emergency interventions, and in-patient stays like the NICU.
They do everything in their power to reduce the anxiety surrounding the time spent in the hospital and care for the emotional well-being of both the caregivers and the children.
Today, she’s sharing with us some wonderful advice to empower families in their hospital journey: from teaching children what to expect from their procedures in developmentally appropriate ways to teaching parents how to play a more active role in their child’s care.
Amy also shares fantastic ways to prepare for foreseen and unforeseen hospital visits, some great tricks to make your stay more pleasant, and how to help loved ones going through those journeys.
Whether your hospital has Child Life Specialists that you can ask for, or you have to seek this guidance more directly, this episode is a great resource to share with anyone who may need it.
Key Takeaways with Amy Carter
Show Notes:
Get Full Access to the Show Notes by visiting: MatteasJoy.org/31.
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