Teens answer call to entertain patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

The young patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta don’t stop arriving just because there’s a coronavirus pandemic.

Unfortunately, the teen volunteers — VolunTEENS — at Children’s were forced to.

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But that doesn’t mean they stopped entertaining and interacting with kids, however, or that they stopped supporting the staff.

“We wanted to create a program that would engage our VolunTEENs throughout the summer while fulfilling needs within the hospital,” volunteer coordinator Katherine Medlock said. “This opportunity is an eight-week program that offers our returning teens the chance to give back to the hospital from afar.”

So the VolunTEEN program went virtual this year.

Fifty teens from previous programs answered Medlock’s call to return in an online capacity. The volunteers ensure the kids at Children’s still feel like kids and stay entertained during a time when both visitors and group activities are limited.

“Our hope is that the VolunTEENs’ optimistic attitudes are felt throughout the hallways, even with visitor restrictions in place,” Medlock said.

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For the kids, the volunteers put together crafting kits, read virtually to patients, conduct donation drives and even write jokes that are read by staff via closed-circuit television.

The staff broadcast from Seacrest Studios Atlanta, which was donated by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and is at Children's at Egleston hospital.

For the staff, the teens put together goodie bags and make encouraging and uplifting signs that are hung in the hospitals.