BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Sanford Health in Bismarck has created a new program to help children in the hospital heal through music and entertainment.
The Dakotas-based health care provider launched the Child Life program in November with endowments from the Sanford Health Foundation’s “Above and Beyond” campaign, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
The program also exists in Fargo and Sioux Falls.
Under the program, a child development professional and a music therapist work with children throughout the hospital, including in the pediatric intensive care unit and at children’s clinics. The specialists can help the children to understand a diagnosis or prepare for an operation, and also spend time with the child and provide support for their families.
Bobbi Jo Vandal, a Bismarck native and music therapist who is part of the Child Life program at Sanford, plays music for anxious kids and sings lullabies to babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Premature babies “can be really fragile, so they have to be a certain gestational period for me to work with them; otherwise, it’s too much stimulation,” Vandal said. “But it’s especially helpful for babies that are having withdrawal symptoms or need extra stimulation to help them get out into the world.”
Vandal highlighted studies that prove music therapy is helpful to babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. Music therapy can improve a preemie’s breathing, heart rate and feeding, according to a 2013 Journal of Pediatrics study.
The cost of the Child Life program services is free to families since it’s financed by donations.
“I’ve been doing pediatrics (at Sanford) for 21 years, and I’ve honestly seen such a transformation of our Children’s Hospital since the incorporation of Child Life and music therapy,” said pediatric Dr. Todd Twogood. “It’s basically been one of the best things I’ve seen come to us in a long time.”
Kristi Schmidt, the Sanford Health Foundation’s lead major gifts officer, said the organization needs to raise $1.5 million, which will then be matched by Sanford Health to create a $3 million fund to sustain the Child Life Program.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com
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