On Thanksgiving night, Lailah Stoudenmire, 6, and Jacob Russell, 4, will become part of a beloved Atlanta holiday tradition and light the Macy’s Great Tree at Lenox Square.
Chosen as honorary treelighters from among the many young patients at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the audience will see two precious, excited children. What they won’t see is the team of dedicated professionals who helped make the event possible.
A team of doctors, nurses, researchers, child-life specialists, social workers, music therapists, chaplains and others are battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses at the Aflac Center. Their aim? To bring light where there was darkness.
“As nurses, we don’t give diagnoses. We go in afterward with tissues and help families put their next steps together. We educate and answer questions in every possible way, knowing that everyone’s learning curve and comfort level is different,” said Nan Mink, an oncology nurse at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Egleston.
Initially, families are often shell-shocked and have heard little more than the diagnosis.
“They ask: 'We have to get treatments for how long? How often? How will we ever have a normal life again?’ ” said Mink, RN, BSN. “The first thing I do is reassure them that they are not alone, to let them know that I’m here to walk beside them and be a support. We’re a community here and have access to many resources to help them. What we try to do is create an atmosphere of hope.”
When she was a nursing student in 1991, Mink was offered a scholarship to finish her education if she would work at CHOA’s cancer center for two years.
“I’ve been here over 20 (years) and I hope to retire here,” she said. “I love what I do and the people I work with. The children bring a different energy to every day.”
Mink worked in inpatient care for six years before moving to the outpatient clinic. She has seen enormous changes in treatment and improvements to patient care over the years — thanks, in part, to the clinical trials conducted by Emory University Hospital doctors and researchers at the center.
While procedures and drugs change, continuity of care is an important constant. With young patients like Jacob, it helps to establish a relationship and to enlist the help of child-life specialists who provide age-appropriate therapeutic play to distract and comfort the children.
“When you make the treatment less stressful for the child, it lessens the parents’ stress, too,” Mink said.
People who work with children and deadly diseases learn early on how to deal with negative outcomes.
“If you took it home every day, it would consume you. I rely on my faith to keep me grounded and the knowledge that this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Mink said.
Special bond
When a child does pass away, staff members — who may have known that patient for years — share stories and have fond memories of him or her.
“Nurses at the bedside all know what it’s like to lose a patient. There’s a bond of understanding that you can’t explain to the outside world,” said Karen Winkel, a resource nurse at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Scottish Rite. “Working in pediatric oncology is the best of jobs and the worst of jobs. I love kids. When I lose a patient I knew well, I have to reassure myself that I helped him somewhere along the way.”
The long-term relationships she builds with children and their families are the best part of the job for Winkel, BSN, who has worked at the center for 14 years. As an infusion nurse who administers chemotherapy, IV medicines or blood, she gets to know her patients well.
“They may be there for 30 minutes or 10 hours, but our goal is to try to take care of everybody,” she said.
Winkel often chats with patients and their families, drilling down to specific issues they are having. She answers questions, helps organize appointments to meet child care and transportation challenges. Sometimes she brings in a social worker, therapist or chaplain as needed.
Families come from all over the state and from many backgrounds, but they all need help coping with the emotional, social and financial issues that come with serious illnesses.
“You do a lot of listening. You try to find out the problems and help them find solutions,” she said.
The first visit is the most crucial, she said.
“We use every means to comfort, calm and distract a child. We explain things well before we do them,” Winkel said. “I know I can make a big impact on how that child will perceive treatment and this place in the future, and I take that very seriously. You can change their experience, and over time you can earn their trust.”
Winkel is honored when parents trust her enough to take their child down the hall alone.
“You get to see children grow through milestones, and there’s nothing like kids coming back and giving you a big hug,” she said. “That’s the best thing ever.”
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