GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Inside the Corewell Health Lake Drive Surgery Center in Grand Rapids, 3-year-old Emma and her little unicorn stuffed animal have a big day ahead.
"We're going to have a pajama party!" she said, dressed in her hospital gown.
However, this party is different than the one she's about to have on her fourth birthday in about a month.
“Can my mom and dad come with me?” Emma asked before the doctors roll her into the operating room to remove adenoids and place tubes in her ears.
"They're going to wait here, but we're going to come back and tell them all about it," replied Alicia Dykman.
Dykman is a Child Life Specialist, one of about 50 in the Corewell Health System.
“My job is I get to hang out with all the cool kids like you," Alicia told Emma, "and I’ll answer any questions you have about being here today.”
Dykman said Child Life Specialists can assist in many different areas — hospital school teachers, art therapists, music therapists, technology specialists and more.
“We kind of help make the hospital, and surgery, and anything that has to do with healthcare a lot easier, less stressful, less scary for patients and families," Dykman said.
For example, they explain procedures ahead of time to the young patients, utilizing distracting, therapeutic play, jokes and other tricks to normalize the hospital environment.
In Emma's case, that means turning the medical anesthesia mask into something less intimidating by marking the inside with scented lip balm to make it smell better.
"It smells good," Emma told Dykman after rubbing half the tube onto the mask.
"Making her more comfortable makes me more comfortable," Emma's mom, Stephanie, told FOX 17. "Speaking from a mom and a family perspective, we just really appreciate them. It would be different if they weren't here.”
Dykman works with kids of all ages before, during and after their procedures.
“Just kind of reassuring and validating, like, 'Hey, you did that! That was hard, but you did that!'” Dykman said.
She's only been working in the field for two years, but just like many Child Life Specialists, helping people like Emma isn't just their job — it's who they are.
“It is hard, but I do tend to just like to try and make people as happy as possible," Dykman said. "Just trying to make the world a better place in a way.”
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