Needle Little Help

At Children's Hospital Los Angeles, there is a job that looks like playing with kids all day. Hallie is a child life specialist in the Heart Institute, and before a child has a procedure, she walks them through every step of what is about to happen, in words a kid can follow. When the procedure starts, she is still there, keeping them busy and calm while the doctors work. Her job is to make sure a kid in a hospital still gets to be a kid.

Almost every hospital that treats children has someone like her, and almost nobody outside a hospital has heard of the job. The kids who need it most have no idea what a needle, a cast, or a giant humming machine is going to feel like. For most of them, the only thing worse than the procedure is not knowing what comes next.

Your Task: Imagine you are the child life specialist, and a scared six-year-old is next on the schedule.

1. The Procedure
Pick something that happened to you at a doctor, a dentist, or a hospital. It could be stitches, a cast, or a shot. Say what it was and what scared you about it at the time, honestly. (2 to 3 sentences.)

2. The Walkthrough
A six-year-old is about to have the same thing done. Explain what will happen, step by step, using one thing from their world so it makes sense to them, like a car wash, a spaceship, or a level in a video game. Give your comparison a name. (4 sentences.)

3. The Distraction
You are in the room for the exact moment it hurts or gets loud. Invent one game or trick for that moment, for a kid who has already heard "count to ten" and is not falling for it again. (2 to 3 sentences.)

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