Making Every Interaction Count: Developing A Dedicated Interdisciplinary Volunteer Program for Patients with Congenital Heart Disease

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Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of neurodevelopment impairments. Potential risk factors include being left alone for long periods of time with minimal stimulation, interaction, or opportunity to engage in developmentally appropriate play. An interdisciplinary team was formed and posited that volunteers may be an underutilized resource to help providers and families deliver neurodevelopmental care to pediatric cardiology patients. That team developed a volunteer program specific to this high-risk chronic population, with the goal of volunteers providing targeted developmental care during patient interactions. This webinar will outline the process of creating this program, the impact of interdisciplinary teamwork and discuss the benefits of training hospital volunteers to complete specific developmental support within their volunteer scope for any chronic patient population.

Suggested Domain: Assessment

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will identify the need for a dedicated volunteer program within a chronic inpatient setting, and why it differs from a generalized volunteer program

2. Participants will review data collected demonstrating the heightened impact of this program on patients, families, team members and volunteers

3. Participants will gather resources and tips on developing a dedicated volunteer program for any chronic or at-risk inpatient population

4. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to an interdisciplinary group of presenters, gaining further insight or ideas for developing a dedicated volunteer program

Sarah Scott

MS, CCLS

Sarah Scott has been a certified child life specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado for 8 years. She worked in the cardiac intensive care and step-down units for 7 of those years, where she discovered a passion for advocating for patients with chronic illnesses. While in cardiology, Sarah helped create the CINCO volunteer program to better serve this patient population. Sarah now oversees the medical dog program at CHCO and continues to work with patients and families in cardiology on a consult basis with her facility dog, Galaxy.

Kelly Wolfe

Kelly Wolfe is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and serves as the Director of the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up Program and the Clinical Director of Neuropsychology at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She is also current Co-Chair of the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative

Emily Maloney

Emily Maloney is one of the primary Physical Therapists in the Heart Institute and a pediatric clinical specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. I have been at Children's since 2013 and in the Heart Institute since 2016.