Winter 2008-2009 - Mayo Clinic

Providers’ perspective
Jane Heser’s story
“I try to see things through the child’s eyes,” says Jane Heser,
a Child Life specialist. “I consider myself a teacher who helps
pediatric patients understand what’s going on, what pieces of
equipment are for, what’s required of them and how they can
cope with it all. We use simple, honest, developmentally
appropriate language, and respect kids as intelligent,
sensitive learners.”
Heser tapes tubes on a doll to show a child the purpose
of different medical tubes. She engages a mother and 2-yearold
in a game of peekaboo to coax the child to wear an
oxygen mask. She distracts a toddler with a spinning toy
while blood is drawn. She leads Halloween trick-or-treaters
on a parade through the main level of the hospital. She helps
patients learn about medical procedures in the hospital’s
medical play area, complete with a small X-ray box.
Her job isn’t all fun and games. She helps a teenager plan
his funeral. She helps parents make plaster hand molds and
handprints of their terminally ill children. She helps make
memory boxes for parents to preserve precious reminders of
their children, including locks of hair. She helps parents and
children with difficult conversations about death and dying.
Heser shares a story about four siblings. One sister was
having a bone marrow transplant, and the other was the
donor. Heser worked with the sisters to show them how
medication would be administered during surgery and how
the transplant would happen. The transplant patient never
lost her spirit during her monthlong hospitalization, says
Heser, in part due to visits with her siblings.
“Those visits were the highlight of her day,” says Heser.
“I planned activities and crafts for them, and they were eager
to participate. It was wonderful to see how important togetherness
was for this family and this patient. A family should
have the opportunity to do what it normally does, even when
a member is in the hospital.”
“I’m so glad Mayo has tremendous
Child Life services because not
every hospital does.”
Mayo Clinic was ranked as one of America’s Best Children’s
Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report (June 9, 2008). Mayo
was ranked in three specialties: neurology and neurosurgery,
digestive disorders, and heart and heart surgery. Mayo Clinic
has been ranked as a top pediatric hospital every year since
U.S. News & World Report began ranking hospitals.
www.mayo.edu/alumni | 7