Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital has added certified child life specialist Leticia Clegg to help kids in emergency and surgery departments to enhance outcomes.
New certified child life specialist Leticia Clegg at Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital is helping young patients better understand their diagnoses and treatments – and the hospital is already seeing a decrease in medication needed to reduce stress.
Clegg is helping children receiving emergency and surgical care, outpatient procedures such as blood draws, and supporting and encouraging inpatient children with their treatment plans, including finding fun ways to help them take medications, walk, and eat.
“The community can rest easy knowing that when their children come to Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital, they will be cared for as if they were one of our own,” said Brandon McBride, president of Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital. “Child life specialists address the psychological and social aspects of caring for sick or injured children. An investment in child life is an investment in the health of children in our community.”
Child life services at Intermountain Health are supported entirely by philanthropy and community donations and are free to patients. Donations fund specialist salaries and supplies, which include Barbie dolls, medical play items, crayons, bubbles, blankets, and stuffed animals.
But child life is much more than child’s play.
Child life specialists are psychosocial healthcare professionals with focused training in child development, assessment and coping strategies, family systems, and evidence-based supportive interventions.
They help children from infancy through adolescence to decrease stress and increase coping through play, education, and normalization of the medical environment.
“When a child needs surgery, it can be super scary – and a lot of children don’t know what to expect and can tend to think the worst,” said Leticia Clegg, certified child life specialist at Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital.
“Child life uses play and age-appropriate education to help children understand what’s going to happen to them to help them be less afraid,” Clegg added. “It truly makes a difference in the child’s ability to bounce back from their experience now and later in life.”
In the first month of child life services, Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital experienced about a 90 percent reduction in the number of children needing sedatives in the same-day surgery unit, said Marcie Sherner, RN, nurse manager of same day surgery and the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) at the hospital. The outcome is similar to findings published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
One patient helped by Clegg’s expertise is 9-year-old Kobi Egbert.
Kobi needed a procedure in same-day surgery. But the thought of surgery made her very anxious, said her mom, Jesica Egbert.
“My husband and I were so worried about Kobi and how she’d take this, and we were worried about leaving her alone,” Egbert said. “And in walks Letitia, and she was wonderful from the beginning.”
Clegg brought Kobi toys she liked, and showed her pictures, and used real medical supplies to help her understand what the surgery would be like.
“She quickly befriended Kobi and made her feel so good and safe, which is not always easy,” Egbert said. “When it was time to go to surgery, Kobi was sad but was okay because she had Leticia to go with her. She was everything Kobi needed to get through that day. She just took all the worry away.”
During surgery, Clegg came to the waiting room to talk to Kobi’s parents.
“She told us she held Kobi’s hand until she fell asleep, and gave us a rundown how she was doing,” Egbert said. “She made us feel better too.”
Clegg is one of 70 child life specialists helping care for children at 11 Intermountain hospitals and care sites, including all Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital locations, Utah Valley Hospital, McKay-Dee Hospital, Riverton Hospital, St. George Regional Hospital, American Fork Hospital, Park City Hospital, Heber Valley Hospital, Layton Hospital, and now, Logan Regional Hospital. Child life also provides virtual consults at Intermountain Medical Center.
Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital leaders hope to expand child life services, which will require community support.
For more information about how to help child life at Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital, visit https://www.justserve.org/projects/7a642119-b37e-4431-8f50-13c2caf5ca89/donations-to-logan-regional-hospital?shiftId=f74cb5e6-8ad0-481c-ada6-a6a51e28d078.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a not-for-profit system of 34 hospitals, approximately 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
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