DES MOINES, Iowa — The hospital is the last place you want to spend a holiday, but this Valentine’s Day it will at least be a little sweeter for kids staying at Blank Children’s Hospital.
WHO 13 staff put together homemade cards and toy kits for young patients staying at the hospital. The story of every patient is different, but often times kids staying at Blank Children’s miss the fun of the holidays that they’d typically experience at home or at school with their peers.
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“A huge part of our job is helping kids cope with their hospitalization and a big part of that is helping to normalize the hospital,” Hannah Flynn, a child life specialist at Blank Children’s Hospital said. “So, when they arrive here at the hospital, whether it’s the first time or the 100th time, it can be a really traumatic experience for them. We just want to help make that as normal as possible and we know that when they are here they are missing out on the holiday events that are happening at school or the community, so we want to bring that to them.”