Child Life Assistant

Job Title & Specialty Area: Child Life Assistant

Department: Child Life

Location: Dallas, TX

Shift: Various

Job Type: On-Site

Why Children's Health?

At Children's Health, our mission is to Make Life Better for Children, and we recognize that their health plays a crucial role in achieving this goal.

Through our cutting-edge treatments and affiliation with UT Southwestern, we strive to deliver an extraordinary patient and family experience, ensuring that every moment, big or small, contributes to their overall well-being.

Our dedication to promoting children's health extends beyond our organization and encompasses the broader community. Together, we can make a significant difference in the lives of children and contribute to a brighter and healthier future for all.

Summary:
The Child Life Assistant promotes normal development and positive coping for patients and families in the hospital environment through providing therapeutic activities tailored to meet each patient and family's needs. This position collaborates with child life specialists, nursing, and other members of the healthcare team to provide play opportunities at the bedside and in the playroom. This position also facilitates donations and material management work throughout the campus.

Responsibilities:

• Utilizes knowledge of hospital policies and critical thinking skills to maintain a safe environment in the playroom by monitoring general health needs. Responsible for evaluating environment for safety that aligns with the hospital quality goals. Recognizes when there is an issue and collaborates with child life or nursing as appropriate for additional support.
• Escalates medical, safety, or customer service concerns to healthcare team members and leadership for support and follow up.
• Develops and maintains effective working relationships with members of the healthcare team to meet care plan goals. Provide interdisciplinary team member education on safe utilization of toys, equipment, and play spaces.
• Collaborates with child life specialist/colleagues for weekly thematic programming recognizing diverse holidays and events and promoting opportunities for new experiences.
• Provides toys and activities that are appropriate for a wide developmental range of children at bedside, in clinic, playrooms, camps, support groups, or special events.
• Utilizes child development knowledge and healthcare team collaboration to adapt play for patients with developmental delays or behavioral health needs ensuring a safe play experience.
• Utilizes knowledge of isolation protocols and policies to monitor the playrooms to ensure compliance with infection prevention guidelines and ensure that toys are cleaned appropriately after each play session.
• Provides individual play sessions for approved patients on isolation with identified needs, using child development knowledge and knowledge of patient’s healthcare needs to adapt play for each child’s developmental level.
• Ability to meet physical and non-physical demands as outlined in the job description is an essential function of the job.
• Performs other duties and special projects as assigned.
• Ability to meet physical and non-physical demands as outlined in the job description is an essential function of the job.

 How You’ll Be Successful:

Other information:
WORK EXPERIENCE
At least 1 year job related experience Required

EDUCATION

• High school diploma or equivalent Required
• Some college coursework in child development Preferred

A Place Where You Belong

We put our people first. We welcome, value, and respect the beliefs, identities and experiences of our patients and colleagues. We are committed to delivering culturally effective care, creating meaningful partnerships in the communities we serve, and equipping and developing our team members to make Children’s Health a place where everyone can contribute.

 Holistic Benefits – How We’ll Care for You:

· Employee portion of medical plan premiums are covered after 3 years.

· 4%-10% employee savings plan match based on tenure

· Paid Parental Leave (up to 12 weeks)

· Caregiver Leave

· Adoption and surrogacy reimbursement 

As an equal opportunity employer, Children's Health does not discriminate against employees or applicants because of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, national origin, veteran or military status, disability, or genetic information or any other Federal or State legally-protected status or class. This applies to all aspects of the employer-employee relationship including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, promotion, transfer pay, training, discipline, workforce adjustments, termination, employee benefits, and any other employment-related activity.