Why pediatric-specific care matters

I saw a miracle on Monday. No, no one walked on water. Flying pigs weren’t around either. What I saw was just as unbelievable though.

Kaiden Beville, all 21 months of him, came back to Children’s to get a cast placed on his broken arm. The young boy, who sustained his injury jumping on his parent’s bed, plays hard and cries hard. I can attest to the latter, because I saw and heard him wailing when he first came to the emergency department last week. The Children’s staff handled and x-rayed his wounded wing (although done in the most kind and gentle fashion) and eventually identified that he fractured his humerus by landing on his locked right arm when he tumbled from his parent’s bed.

If that happened to me, I’d probably cry, too.

I expected his reaction during the follow-up visit to be about the same. After all, getting a cast is never fun – especially for a toddler. I fully anticipated that the staff putting on the cast would have to go to unusual measures to quiet the impending fit, maybe even sedation. But then something funny happened.

Benjamin Vance, the Orthopedic tech tasked with putting the cast on Kaiden, met the little guy with a big smile and soft words. Then Vance invited Child Life specialist Cecilia Nelson into the casting room when it came time for him to begin measuring Kaiden’s broken arm. Cecilia immediately began blowing bubbles. Kaiden gurgled “bubba” at each one and reached out for them with his free arm.

The moment he began to pay attention to Vance touching his arm, Cecilia quickly whipped out a new toy – a Sesame Street sound machine. She would press a button, and Kaiden would imitate the sound it produced. Pretty soon, Kaiden found an Elmo laugh button and began pressing it and imitating the sound all on his own. The next thing I knew, Kaiden had a brand new red cast on his right arm. The young boy, who I expected to be in hysterics or drugged at this point, waived “bye-bye” and blew kisses to us on his way out.

Now, I know that may not strike the same supernatural chord as say… the Cowboys winning the Super Bowl this season, but I’m confident that parents of toddler whirlwinds like Kaiden find it even more miraculous.