The 3-foot-tall doll was so tempting to Laila Sivels that the 6-year-old in a hospital waiting room overcame her hesitation about speaking in front of strangers.
“Can I play with your doll?” she asked Diane Cavanaugh, an outpatient surgery nurse giving a tour on a recent Saturday to Laila and two other children with surgeries scheduled at Children’s Memorial Hospital.
“Her name is Zoe, and she’s my helper,” responded Cavanaugh, who pretended to check the young patients temperatures, which tickled and made them giggle.
“Of course, we can’t really take Zoe’s temperature because she doesn’t really have skin,” she said.
The playful manner helped Cavanaugh reduce the anxiety the children and their parents experience before surgery. On most Saturday mornings, she leads families through the Lincoln Park hospital’s surgical floor to familiarize them with the pre-operative area, operating room and recovery rooms. Her soft voice, the way she speaks directly to each child and her knack for phrasing medical terms so children understand evoked wide-eyed attention from the younger family members.
Cavanaugh explains that the purpose of the program, geared to 3- to 10-year-olds, is to give children and parents a dry run on a day they’re not panicky about the surgery.
“If you don’t know what’s going on and see someone coming at you with a mask, it could be scary,” she said. “So we give them masks and bandages to play with. It’s all an attempt to reduce the fear of the unknown.”
Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital also have outreach programs for young surgery patients.
Rush offers a similar Saturday morning tour, and if patients can’t come in, it sends a video. The hospital also provides tours for children who will undergo uncomfortable invasive procedures, such as inserting a catheter into the bladder. The child must be awake for it, and the psychological after-effects have been likened to post-traumatic stress disorder, said Robyn Hart, director of child life services at Rush.
“We recognize that any stay in a hospital can be a terrifying experience for children,” Hart said. “And a considerable amount of research has shown that patients who are psychologically prepared have less post-operative complications, shorter recovery times and increased patient/family satisfaction.”
Comer offers advance tours if families request them. But typically, on the day of surgery, a child life specialist gives the young patient a teaching doll with the child’s same hair and skin coloring and uses the doll to describe the surgery.
“It’s really a hands-on teaching session,” said Amy Carter, a child life specialist at Comer.
Thomas Kellogg, 3, was at Children’s on a recent Saturday to have his tonsils and adenoids removed, said his dad, Scott, of Chicago.
“OK, Thomas, we’re going to check those big-boy muscles now,” Cavanaugh said brightly before strapping a tot-size blood pressure cuff onto the toddler’s arm.
Cavanaugh distributed stethoscopes to all the child patients and their siblings, showing them how they could listen to Mom’s or Dad’s heartbeat, as well as their own.
“That was fun,” exclaimed Laila, of Chicago, who needs surgery to remove a cyst from her collarbone. Her mood has changed from earlier, when her mother, Laticia Bonner, confided that the 1st grader is nervous about the idea of surgery.
After some quick instructions to bring a stuffed animal — which will get a name tag so it doesn’t get lost — on the day of surgery, Cavanaugh has all the children and parents suit up in surgical gowns and caps before entering the operating room.
Once inside, she lets them touch the sticky bases of the leads that will attach to their chests. She demonstrates the bright lights they will see and the beeps from monitors they will hear on surgery day.
“The doctor who’s going to help you go to sleep is going to give you a special mask for the medicine he’s going to give you,” she explains. She lets everyone sniff four fragrances they can ask the anesthesiologist to scent their masks with.
Rocky Segal, 5, of Highland Park decides to combine the banana cream and strawberry scents.
After a peek at Zoe the doll resting in the recovery room, the families prepare to leave. Rocky is grinning widely at his mom, Meredith.
“It’s going to be fun,” he said.
