Zoom Zoom Zoom
I want to be honest here…I don’t always love Zoom. I’m sure you’ve had similar feelings over the past few months? It’s easy to start to feel “zoomed out”, whether you are using video chats for work or social connection. Especially for music, it was easy for me to initially focus on everything Zoom “couldn’t do” vs recognizing what it now allows us to do that is so special. You got to see last month how Brianna is using Zoom to connect babies and caregivers and support their development; today I’m going to show you how we are using Zoom to support some of our slightly older kids.
Each Wednesday, Erin Henderson (school teacher) and I do a music group for our preschool and young school age patients (or the young at heart). We sing, dance, tell stories, and oftentimes do show and tell—our patients are very excited to show off their favorite stuffed animals! It is a great opportunity for patients to socialize with their peers. Some of our patients participate by talking and singing, and others participate by watching and listening. We meet them wherever they are.
One thing that makes this group so special is that we have now had patients from every unit in the hospital, including ICUs, as well as siblings join us from home. While I miss doing groups in person, many of our current attendees would never have been able to come to a group if we had it in our playroom. I’ve also been amazed to see the creative ways our patients engage over Zoom; during a song where a character brushed their teeth, one sibling ran off screen and grabbed her toothbrush to show us. During a song where we “hide” because of a bear, one participant hid under a sheet while another turned his camera off (what a brilliant way to “hide”)! We mute everyone during each song (due to the time lag and audio of Zoom) but encourage them to sing as loud as they want in their rooms. We then encourage everyone to unmute in between and have kids ask each other questions, request songs, and write songs together. They have connected over shared love of things like Toy Story, Star Wars, nail polish, and unicorns. For our patients who do not communicate verbally, caregivers are a huge help in participating with them and letting us know some of their favorite things.
We’ve also had teenage and young adult patients who enjoy working with younger kids join us and be our helpers. One of our current young adult patients hopes to become a teacher, and she now joins us each week to read a story or play a song for our kids. It is a great way to support her in her hospitalization as well as her future goals, and our younger kids have someone to look up to. See below for some pictures—I have to admit, Zoom can do more than I once thought possible :)
Story time with one of our older patients
Our friends from Toy Story make a surprise appearance in two different rooms!
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