At Bon Secours, we understand that being in the hospital can be a very stressful time for children as well as for their parents. Our Child Life Specialist is prepared to assist you in easing your child's anxiety and making the experience the best possible one for you and your child.

Child Life Specialists are trained and certified healthcare professionals who have backgrounds in areas such as child development and early childhood education. This valuable resource is available to every child admitted to the St. Mary's Hospital Pediatric Unit.

Specialized Care, One-on-One Attention

Our Child Life Specialist is assigned to help you and your child cope with the hospital experience. We understand that each child is unique. Therefore we offer personalized care that keeps your child's family, culture, and special needs in mind. Therapeutic play and age-appropriate games are utilized to help your child feel more comfortable in the hospital.

Should the referring physician deem it helpful, pre-admission and pre-operative teaching can be arranged and informative handouts can be provided to explain common medical words and abbreviations.

Our program also includes:

• Audiovisual and book library for all ages
• Board and card games
• Infants' mobiles, tapes, and toys
• Arts and crafts
• "Medical" play including doctor's bags and dolls
• Movies and video games provided on request in the rooms and if available

John Beverly Rankin Playroom

With the generous funds provided by the family and friends of John Beverly Rankin, a playroom is open to ambulatory patients with physician's permission, where play is unhindered by procedures or equipment. Supervised computer and Internet access is also available.