At Children’s Minnesota, we put kids first, and we know that kids get better quicker when we take care of the whole family. This is why we offer many services and amenities to the whole family in addition to typical health care services. We call these additional services wrap-around care services. Wrap-around services are an essential part of caring for the whole child. These services are only made possible by our generous donor community.
Something like a cancer diagnosis can make a child’s shine fade. They’re scared, unsure of what lies ahead and they use their energy for the most important thing of all – healing.
Child life
The child life program offers comfort and coping tools to help your child or patient prepare and distract for an upcoming procedure through art, music and play.
Support also includes understanding the emotions children and adolescents have when they are sick, or in circumstances of grief or death. Child life staff promote healthy methods of emotional expression, encouraging patients to channel their feelings through play, dialogue, arts, crafts, music and other forms of expression. Child life professionals are an important part of the multidisciplinary care teams at Children’s Minnesota. They are trained in child development and help children understand their medical care. Additionally, child life professionals partner with the whole family, including siblings, to foster a positive and supportive care experience.
Great Clips Sibling Play Area
The Sibling Play Area is a creative space designed for the brothers and sisters of our patients at our Minneapolis campus. The staff in the Sibling Play Area work closely with child life specialists, the Family Resource Center and volunteers to create a supportive environment where children feel welcome to play. We have a wide selection of toys, games, music, books and crafts for all ages.
The Child Life Zone
Built through support from Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation, this state-of-the-art environment at our St. Paul campus provides children and teens a place to connect with others and explore healing therapies while doing what they love. Patients and their families come here to play, laugh, learn and relax.
Star Studio
Star Studio is the in-house TV station at Children’s Minnesota. Their mission is to provide patients and families with an alternative to mainstream commercial broadcasting.
Music therapy
It’s no secret that music can be uplifting and relaxing in any situation. A growing amount of evidence suggests that the power of music can also have significant benefits to patients and their families in clinical settings. Children’s Minnesota board-certified music therapists serve patients ranging from newborns to young adults at various levels of engagement and responsiveness. Patients at any developmental age or developmental level can participate!
How to support our wrap-around services
Philanthropy drives wrap-around services at Children’s Minnesota. Programs like child life (and more) are fully funded by philanthropy. Financial donations of any size ensure that these important and impactful programs continue to make a difference in the way we care for children and families.
You can support wrap-around services at Children’s Minnesota by making a donation through the Children’s Minnesota Foundation.
