support services

Dayton Children’s bereavement team is available to meet the needs of our patients and families before, during and after the death of a child. Our team’s response is based on each family’s cultural, religious and individual preferences. Our primary focus is to provide support to children and their families.

Resources available include chaplain service, medical/nursing support, psychological/counseling intervention and social work. Hand and foot print memories are created at the time of death and are made available to the family when they are ready. Follow-up support mailings occur throughout the first year. Formal support groups and individual family support are also available.

This year's annual memorial service is being provided virtually. A box with memorial service gifts and resources has been sent out to families. A video has been prepared to lead you through the service. The link for the service is here.

On December 12 at 2:00 pm we will host an informal virtual gathering. Please use this link to join the virtual meeting.

Chaplains, as members of the health care team, give emotional and spiritual care to patients, families and staff members. They offer acceptance and comfort during illness, injury and loss. Our chaplains have extensive training in working with children and their families in times of emotional crisis. Chaplains are either in the hospital or on-call around the clock.

Also, the Dayton Children's interfaith chapel, open 24 hours a day, is located on the first floor across from the pharmacy on the main campus.

For a kid, coming to the hospital can be very scary. There are new people, new machines and many new sounds. But at Dayton Children's we work hard to make sure everything is "just right for kids." This means we have people working around the clock to ensure your child not only feels safe at the hospital, but that they can focus on their most important job... being a kid!

Our child life specialists focus on the emotional support and developmental needs of Dayton Children's patients and families. As part of a patient's health care team, child life specialists help a patient cope with illness, injury, treatment and procedures. The child life staff uses play, preparation, education and self-expression activities to help children understand why they are receiving medical care.

Learn more

Understanding what's wrong with your child and how your child will be treated are important if you are to be a partner in your child's care.

To make sure any communication barriers are addressed, we offer American Sign Language (ASL) services as well as interpreters for many languages. We can best help you if we know ahead of time that it would help you to have a language interpreter during your child's appointment.

Our staff will be happy to make these arrangements for you. When you talk to the clinic or central scheduling (937-641-4000) about your child’s appointment, please let them know what language services you will need.

Dayton Children's offers many of its consent forms, legal documents and education materials in Spanish. Translations into other languages is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Patient relations at Dayton Children’s is dedicated to patient and family advocacy. Representatives in our patient relations department seek feedback from patients and families we serve, identify ways to continually improve our service to patients and families and work with families to resolve any concerns they may have.

contact

We are available to respond to phone calls and emails Monday - Friday 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.
937-641-3306
patientrelations@childrensdayton.org

A child’s growing body often responds to drug therapy differently than an adult’s would. At Dayton Children’s, our pediatric pharmacists have specialized training which allows them to work with your child’s doctor to help ensure the safe and effective use of medication in the tiniest babies all the way up to fully grown young adults. We have pharmacies at our main campus and south campus, so you can fill your child's prescription while here for your visit. Learn more.

The department of social work consults on the psychosocial evaluation and/or treatment of patients and families.

services we offer

• Child protection: assessment and intervention in cases of suspected physical, emotional or sexual abuse as well as issues of physical, psychological or medical neglect and noncompliance.
• Crisis intervention: evaluation, referral and/or treatment in instances of drug abuse, adolescent pregnancy, drug ingestion, death and dying support, clarification of legal or custody matters, problems in parent-child adjustment to hospitalization and mediation with hostile or agitated parents.
• Family assessments: evaluation and counseling for marital problems, family conflicts, parenting skills, need for home support services, residential care or placement and management of basic survival needs.
• Specialty care/chronic illness: Initial evaluation and long-term support for patients and families making the adjustment to catastrophic illness or injury.
• Support groups, general information and referral services are available to the public. Other services are limited to patients and families using Dayton Children's inpatient, outpatient or emergency services.

Read more about services our social work team offers here.