Gabrielle-Simone Washington, 8, and Lana Turner, 5, look like healthy, happy and adorable little girls. Healthy comes from the quality care from their families and the staff at the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
The girls will be the honorary treelighters at Macy’s Great Tree Lighting celebration on Thanksgiving.
“Gabrielle-Simone is a vibrant, self-assured child who never complains,” said Susan Roth, RN, BSN, resource staff nurse at the infusion center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.
Roth came to work at the infusion center about six months ago from an intensive care unit where her patients were mostly sedated or intubated.
“The best thing about working here is getting to talk to and know my patients and their families,” Roth said. “I love all the communication and working with a dedicated team to give the best care.”
The multidisciplinary hematology team includes doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and child/life specialists. They’ve gotten to know Gabrielle-Simone well. Born with sickle cell anemia, she comes to the Aflac Cancer Center about once a month for blood transfusions and tests, which are required for her chronic condition.
“Our expertise is disease-specific and our patients come in often, so we build a strong rapport with them,” said Jamie Hooper, CCLS, a child/life specialist with the hematology team at Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital. “I love my job. I get to play every day. My patients know that I’m a safe person to talk with, and they’re excited to see me. I get to know their personalities and their interests.”
Hooper uses play to help children on several levels. It helps them communicate their feelings and fears, provides age- appropriate education about their disease and treatments, and distracts them during clinical procedures.
“My job is to insure that their life remains as normal as possible while they are here,” Hooper said.
She sits with Gabrielle-Simone as a nurse inserts her IV for eight-hour treatments.
“We do what parents would recognize as quiet, rainy-day activities,” Hooper said. “We might play interactive games on an iPad, draw or just talk. The treatment is necessary, but we aim to make it the best time it can be.”
The clinic offers movies, group activities and arts and crafts that are child-specific and aimed at caring for the whole family, including siblings.
“Every child is different, and parents know their children best, so we all help each other,” Hooper said.
Hooper understands that children often have difficulty verbalizing their feelings, but that they often reveal what’s on their minds when playing.
“Once we know what they’re thinking, we can address their psychological/social needs,” Hooper said. “When you can prepare a child for what is happening and help them cope, you are giving them the power of knowledge.”
Seeing children laugh and smile makes Hooper feel good. “Our patients are a reminder not to take ourselves so seriously. It’s O.K. to smile through hard times,” she said.
‘Fun happens here every day’
For Sarah Goldberg, RN, BSN, CPON, helping a child blow up a rubber glove and draw a face on it is just as important as administering chemotherapy. It’s all part of pediatric nursing.
“I always knew I wanted to work with children,” Goldberg said. “They’re so resilient. Once they’re feeling better, they’re running up and down the halls, and that makes it all worthwhile.”
The journey starts, however, with a devastating diagnosis, as it did for Lana Turner and her family. When she was 3, doctors found multiple tumors in her body and diagnosed her with neuroblastoma.
“Parents come in with that glassy-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look, and we tell them that fighting the disease will become their new normal and that we will find ways to help them,” said Goldberg, who works at the Aflac Cancer Center at Egleston Hospital. “Seeing a family face a life-threatening disease never gets easier. It stinks every time.”
Lana went through almost 18 months of treatment that included chemotherapy, surgery, two bone marrow transplants, radiation and antibody therapy.
“She is a spunky little kid, and that’s a good thing because attitude is so important,” Goldberg said. “You always knew how she was feeling by looking at her.”
Today, Lana is tumor-free and back to enjoying preschool.
“She’s done well and looks great. She’ll continue to have routine scans every three or four months at first, but her outcome was the best we could hope for,” Goldberg said.
Not all outcomes are that positive, but Goldberg is inspired by working in a place where families rise to the occasion and find the strength to fight the disease as hard as they do.
“They’re so appreciative of what we do, so I never dread going to work,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard and sad, but there’s fun that happens here every day.”
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