While we don't have a picture of the tile art mentioned in the story, here is an example of some of the tile art that still exists at Primary Children's Hospital.
I was working with a patient and her family in the Children’s Procedural Unit. As I began to talk with the family, the mother told me about her other child. This child had been here for a long time with many health complications, and she’d unfortunately died. The mother mentioned her daughter had decorated a ceiling tile in the hospital years earlier. Later in our conversation she asked if it would be possible to take her daughter to see her sister’s tile.
I expressed to the mother my hope that it was still hanging. We’d been told the painted tiles were beginning to be taken down for fire code reasons and replaced with new tiles. I could tell she was very distraught by this idea. I wanted to do what I could to support the family in honoring the memory of their daughter who’d passed.
Becca’s manager, Callie Kofoed, says, “Becca is a wonderful child life specialist and a valuable member of our team. She consistently goes the extra mile for patients and families and truly makes a difference in the lives of others.”
While her other daughter was in her procedure, I called another child life specialist to help look and see if the tiles were still up on the third floor. She called to say there were still a few, so after the procedure I walked the family to the unit. Luckily, we discovered that one of the few remaining tiles was painted by their daughter. I asked the mother if I could get it for them so she could take it home. The mother was very touched by this gesture and expressed how much she would love to have it. I was able to get in touch with our Engineering team to have them locate and retrieve the tile, then we presented it to the family.
I’ve thought a lot about this experience in relation to Compassionate Connections. I might have simply gone to the room and done my job supporting this patient through the procedure and never would have known their story. However, taking the time to really connect with the family and find out how I can best support them led to a beautiful experience. This family now gets to hold on to this memory of their daughter forever. It’s made me think more about all of the interactions and how I can give more to truly to connect on a deeper level with families.”