Play Helps Children Get Well

Nobody likes getting shots. But 4-year-old Tiffany feared them to the point of hysteria whenever a nurse approached with a hypodermic syringe during the child’s many hospital visits for treatment of cystic fibrosis.

A recreation therapy program in Mission Viejo at Children’s Hospital at Mission has eased Tiffany’s panic considerably through a combination of relaxation techniques, role playing and encouragement.

“Kids are an oversight in many hospitals,” said Gary Goodman, intensive care director for Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange. “And that’s too bad.”

Children’s Hospital employs recreation therapists who make daily rounds at treatment centers in Orange and Mission Viejo.

“Play therapy is good for the mind, spirit and soul and it helps children get better,” Goodman said. “Even if studies didn’t show it was good for them, we’d still do it.”

Recreation therapy and other programs are in the spotlight through Saturday during national Children and Health Care Week, which aims to raise public awareness of how children receive care in hospitals.

Whereas in the past hospitals typically offered little more than a box of toys as a diversion for ill youngsters, experts say, the trend today is to offer a variety of activities as soon as the children are well enough to get out of bed.

“Part of what I do is create normalcy for children,” said Conni VanBilliard, a recreation therapist at Children’s Hospital at Mission. “We give them choices about what they want to do and get them involved in the treatment.”

When VanBilliard worked with Tiffany, she said, she began by showing the child how to make “spaghetti arms” and relax her muscles while soothing music played softly in the background.

Tiffany then acted out a scene in which she portrayed a nurse giving inoculations to a “patient”--a specially made doll.

After four play sessions, VanBilliard said, Tiffany was much calmer when she had her next shot, which brought a small cry from the young patient but no more screaming or tears.

The therapist becomes a friendly, familiar figure to youngsters ranging in age from newborn to 18 years, VanBilliard said.

“If I’m doing my job,” she said, “a child should go home with memories both good and bad, but no fear.”