2016 MICHIGAN Kalamazoo - Hospital for Little Ones

One of the reasons to be a member in the philanthropic Ladies' Library Association is that the ladies support literacy.

Books for Babies is one big project. Twice yearly there is a collection of children's books. Each time 600+ books are collected. They are divided, packaged, and given to 26 different organizations for distribution to infants on up to school age. It is proven that the earlier children are read to, the better they learn in the long run. This effort greatly supports that premise.

On top of that project and others, the ladies also want to improve their personal knowledge of things in the world, so we often take "investigative" field trips. I talked about our trip to Goodwill Industries previously.

In addition to that, a new member of LLA who works at Bronson Hospital set up a tour of the Bronson Children's Hospital here in Kalamazoo. There are only six children's hospitals in Michigan and this is the only one in southwest Michigan. This teaching hospital was converted from a portion of the main hospital to a children's facility around 1990. Patients are referred from 19 regional hospitals.

They treat more than 7,000 inpatients a year, including 600 newborns. In addition, they service more than 60,000 outpatient visits. More than 800 children are transported here, often in a specially equipped pediatric ambulance. This is a children's trauma / emergency center, with pediatric and neonatal intensive care units. Each child has a private room, unless siblings are admitted.

Nurse to patient ration of one to five and in intensive care it is one to two. They have a special sedation service for childhood testing of colonoscopies, MRIs, etc. Staff specializes in children's illnesses, development assessment, dietary needs, pharmacy, discharge instructions and follow-up, nursing assistance, social work, psychology, and family issues. There are also interpreters for non-English speaking patients.

We met Heather in the Room of Magic, a "theater room" where kid patients have movie and game nights, birthday parties, sports visitors, or other diversions to take their mind off of their health problems. It is redecorated with marquee murals filled with super heroes, fairies, and magic tricks. There is a projector, screen, and portable "theatre" seating. Very colorful and comfortable.

In 2010, two boys in Vicksburg (a small nearby town) conceived of the idea and raised the original seed money for this room (see the two boys in the back mural) and Bronson Foundation supplemented the balance of the $15,000 to convert the room.

Here we got an overview of the programs and met heads of the music therapy and art therapy services. Music therapy uses singing, instruments, songwriting, lyric analysis, movement, and guided imagery / progressive muscle relaxation, etc. Techniques decrease anxiety and pain, distracts from problems, normalizes the hospital environment, decreases loneliness, increases socialization, decreases use of sedatives, promotes rehabilitation (cognition, sensorimotor, etc.), and much more.

Art therapy is used for many of the same reasons, as well as exploring and sharing feelings, self-expression, a sense of control, developing confidence, enhancing quality of life, relaxation, and lowering feelings of helplessness. Drawing, painting, sculpting, and other materials help meet goals.  Art is used in the grief process, abuse / sexual abuse survivors, someone who was involved or witnessed a tragic event, family relationships, depression, self-injury, or even suicide.

Overall this hospital uses age appropriate language, educates parents, provides memory-making activities (like recording heartbeats of seriously ill babies), uses medical play such as teaching dolls so kids know what is happening, and much more. I keep saying "much more," but you just can't sum up what this facility and staff do to help kids.

Oh, did I mention the Journey Bead project. Each time a child completes a procedure they get a glass bead, like a merit badge, to show they accomplished the task of the procedure (maybe, radiation series, hair loss, catheter procedure, or surgery). I could go on and on, but you get the idea that this is a very special place doing very special things for children.

Before we continued on our tour of this cheerful facility we dropped off the toys and books we brought with us to share with the children.

On the tour we saw colorful murals galore--farm animals, underwater scenes, auto repair garages, home scenes, firemen, fireworks, nature--lining the hallways and exam rooms to lessen kids' anxiety and keep their minds busy. We heard that sometimes staff sets up a scavenger hunt where the kids have to find certain items in the murals to win. Heck, I would even be entertained by that.

There was a play room with toys for every age, including a foosball table.

Nurses stations were set up in a lighthouse theme and a Checker cab stand. Everything emanated fun.

Mike and I have no children to relate personally to this situation, but in any case I thought this would be a sad and tearful visit for me. It was just the opposite. Due to privacy issues, we did not meet or interact with any of the children, but I could see that if we had an ill child, we would feel confident and comfortable that they would be far more than well-cared for here.