May 23, 2006
Child Life Council’s 24th Annual Conference Comes to Dallas
Medical City Children’s Hospital child life specialists to host tour, give presentations




This weekend, the spotlight will be on the child life profession, as more than 800 child life specialists, students, educators and others in related fields come together at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion to participate in the Child Life Council’s 24th Annual Conference on Professional Issues. The conference features keynote speaker Dr. Garry Landreth, founder of the renowned Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas. Landreth will present “Touching What is Untouchable in a Child’s Life” in which he will explore the power of relationships in the play therapy process.

Three child life specialists at Medical City Children’s Hospital – Kim Johnson, Amy Dodge, and Kelli Gerard – serve on the local conference planning committee and will give conference attendees a tour of the hospital on Thursday. They will discuss how child life services operates in a children’s hospital within a larger adult hospital which is unique to other child life programs in North Texas. On Thursday evening, Medical City Children’s Hospital child life staff will also host a tour and networking dinner for child life specialists who work in other HCA hospitals around the country.

On Saturday, Amy Dodge is presenting a workshop focusing on the clinical child life services she provides for children with congenital heart defects and their families. Medical City Children’s Hospital is a local sponsor for the Child Life Council Conference on Professional Issues, supporting the importance of the services provided by child life specialists.

Child life professionals are a unique group of individuals that work with children and their families in healthcare and related settings. Specializing in child development, they adhere to a philosophy of family-centered care and work to ease the anxiety and trauma that can result from challenging medical experiences and other life events. Children are prepared for stressful events with developmentally-appropriate explanations, planned and practiced coping skills, and play activities with therapeutic and diversionary objectives. Child life specialists strive to support the entire family throughout the experience, providing information, resources and insight.

Child life professionals can be found in many different areas of hospitals, such as emergency departments, patient rooms, surgical areas, and both pediatric and neonatal intensive care units. Increasingly, child life is also gaining a presence in less traditional settings, such as outpatient healthcare facilities, specialized camps, schools, pediatrician and dentist offices.

Over the course of the conference, attendees will choose from nearly 50 educational seminars and workshops designed for professional and personal development, and will learn everything from practical hands-on techniques to the latest developments in child life research and theory. Child life professionals also will enjoy ample opportunities to network with peers in the child life community worldwide, including a networking event sponsored by Disney Worldwide Outreach. In addition to sponsoring the event, Disney will provide each attendee with a free Baby Einstein video.

Another featured giveaway at the conference will be a PC Pals laptop system, a newly-launched product donated by Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, valued at $5,000. PC Pals are secure business-class laptop computer systems designed specifically for pediatric patients ages 5 to18, providing a variety of entertaining and educational software that teaches children to better manage and cope with their medical conditions.

Among the educational sessions featured at the conference, two specialized seminars on working with young victims of natural disaster will be offered, dealing specifically with the response of child life departments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Houston to Hurricane Katrina.

Additionally, The Child Life Council Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Ellen Hollon, MS, CCLS, Director of Child Life/Child Development for Children’s Medical Center Dallas. A charter member of CLC and a child life specialist for over 25 years, Hollon has spent the last 12 years at Children’s Medical Dallas. Randy Snow, one of the most successful wheelchair athletes in history, will also appear Sunday to deliver an inspiring closing speech.

The conference will be hosted by the CLC Local Conference Planning Committee, comprised of child life specialists from many local area programs, including Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Cook Children’s Hospital, Our Children’s House at Baylor, the Children’s Hospital at Scott & White, Texas Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital, and Medical City Children’s Hospital.

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