Five-year-old Stella Sanderson has
a doll that is a little more special than
all the rest in her collection.
Once wrapped in bandages and connected to tubes and a
pulse-oximetry monitor, the medical play doll was given to her
by a child life specialist at Virtua Voorhees to help explain a
procedure Stella required while battling pneumonia last fall.
“There were so many things happening to her that she had no
control over,” said Stella’s mom, Anastasia. “Child life helped her
process all the things that were happening to her medically.”
Just a fewweeks into kindergarten, Stella became very ill and
was admitted to the Marvin Samson Foundation Pediatrics &
Pediatric Intensive Care
Unit at Virtua Voorhees.
As her chest filled with
fluid, doctors told her
family she would need a
chest tube.
“My husband and I were
beside ourselves and
wondering howwe were going to make it through. We knew
medically she would get the best care ever, but we didn’t know
what to do about everything else,” said Anastasia. “That’s when
Beth walked in the room.”
Beth Van Buskirk, a certified child life specialist at Virtua
Voorhees, provides psychological and emotional support to
Beth Van Buskirk has been a child life specialist at Virtua
Voorhees for nine years, helping countless families like Stella’s
through what can be difficult and stressful life events. With
support fromVirtua Foundation, a full-time child life specialist
is also now on staff at the Pediatric Pavilion at Virtua Memorial.
The goal of the child life program at Virtua Voorhees and
Virtua Memorial is to ease a child’s fear and anxiety about
being ill and in the hospital, or when a loved one is ill. Child
life specialists provide emotional support for families and
children facing challenging health-related experiences.
Virtua Voorhees and Virtua Memorial are equipped with
special lounges and play areas for kids, where they can do
What is Child Life?
Child
Life
at Virtua
The Sanderson Family
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