March is the month that we celebrate Child Life Specialists. These are professionals in medical settings, primarily children's hospitals, whose job is to minimize the traumatic experience and help children utilize their innate skills of play and learning to decrease discomfort and improve clinical outcomes. To say the least....Child Life Specialists are a blessing and there should be more of them in all medical settings (inside and outside of the hospital) where children with health challenges receive care. The challenge is that Child Life Specialist care cannot directly be "billed for" because there are no specific insurance billing codes dedicated to the important services they provide. So, fewer hospitals that care for kids currently have child life services in place. This needs to change!
Please enjoy the animated music video I created to celebrate the work of Child Life Specialists and share it in an effort to inform more people about the amazing work being done by Child Life Specialists around the world.
Build Play Into Your Own Life whenever possible in order to make challenging situations more tolerable, survivable, and even perhaps enjoyable.
Check out this cover article in Parade Magazine about the group of artists with autism who worked with Dr. Ben & Company to create the animation for the "Perfect Day" video. Exceptional Minds is a superb animation studio doing inspired work....hire them if you have a need for animation!
And finally, I have BIG NEWS to share about my work to improve the lives of families who have children with special health needs. I have accepted the position of Medical Director for California Children's Services in San Francisco. The position begins at the end of March. For all of you striving with me to live better by building a community for families whose kids have health challenges, thank you. For those of you living in San Francisco and the Bay Area...I look forward to seeing you soon. Onward!!!
Happy Child Life Month of March!!!
Dr. Ben
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