K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital -- Child Life Internship
Overview
K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital is a 50 inpatient bed children’s hospital within an adult hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. They see children from birth to 21 years of age. The Child Life Department focuses on providing psychosocial and emotional support to children and their families throughout their hospital experience through the use of therapeutic play and psychosocial interventions and support.
Duties
The students will have a variety of responsibilities some of which will include: - Facilitating developmentally appropriate play opportunities for hospitalized children at bedside or in the playroom - Offering breaks to parents/caregivers and providing them opportunities for self-care - Providing play opportunities for siblings who visit the hospital - Assisting with special events/visitors/donations - Assisting with Pet Therapy Sessions - Maintaining a child-friendly environment through decorating the playrooms in an appropriate manner - Collaborating with other members of the medical team as needed to provide appropriate care to patients and their families - Assisting with maintaining playroom organization, stocking and cleanliness by following toy cleaning policies - Students will follow all rules and regulations as set forth by HIPAA, failure to be compliant with HIPAA will result in immediate dismissal from the Child life volunteer program. - Student will maintain professionalism and appropriate boundaries with patients, their families, visitors, and hospital team members at all times. - Students will maintain a regularly set schedule determined prior to the start of their experience. They will be required to complete a minimum of 4 hours per week per volunteer services requirements, but are encouraged to complete more hours each week as needed to fulfill their Monmouth University requirements. Students are expected to follow the same standards for completing their scheduled hours as they would for any other professional job. Frequent call outs may result in dismissal from the Child Life Volunteer program. As the Child Life Volunteer program is in high demand, the child life department reserves the right to dismiss any volunteers who do not come for their scheduled shifts and will make those time slots available for other volunteers.
Requirements
Students must fulfill all of the requirements set by the Volunteer Services Department prior to starting. This includes filling out their application, completing their background check and medical forms, attending a hospital orientation and obtaining their ID badge. Once they have completed the Volunteer Services requirements they must meet with supervisor for a separate Pediatrics Orientation prior to their volunteer start date. The Volunteer Services requirements can be a time consuming process and the students have been informed that they must begin this process as soon as possible.
How to Apply
Contact: April Slowenski, BS, Med, CCLS, CPMT Certified Child Life Specialist 732-776-2541
April.Slowenski@hackensackmeridian.org
Contact Information
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