Care Center Offers Respite Nights For Parents

from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, July 2005

Children’s patient Zara McClure plays with a

Prescription Pet pup brought in by Children’s

Hospital volunteer Mary Curto at a respite night

at the Children’s Care Center in south-east Aurora .

Babysitters for special-needs kids can be hard to find.

That’s why the staff at The Children’s Hospital Care Center in southeast Aurora began offering free respite nights for the parents of these kids three years ago.

“These parents don’t have any free time,” said Christa Blanché, physical therapy supervisor and on-site coordinator at the Care Center . “They can’t get to the store or go out for dinner.”

“They have very involved kids – some have tracheostomies, some are autistic – and many times sit-ters are afraid to handle these kids.”

Staff at the center, which offers physical, occupational and speech therapy and learning services, have been working with the same families for years. As they got to know the families, they discovered that the parents really needed a break.

The staff at the center also were looking for ways to participate in Children’s Stepping Stones community benefit program, Blanché said, so they came up with the idea of an evening twice a year where parents could drop off their special-needs child and even the child’s siblings for two hours.

The first hour of the respite night is the “wild hour,” Blanché said.

“The kids can go into one of our three gyms and swing and play,” she said. “The kids even get out of their wheelchairs to play in the swings.”

The second hour of the respite night is for a craft and a snack, she said. Last year, participants made picture frames with snap-shots of the evening’s festivities inside; on another respite night, the kids made magnets. The snack also is hands-on; kids have built sundaes, decorated cupcakes or made trail mix. Board games and video games also are available throughout the night “to keep them busy,” Blanché said, and Prescription Pet volunteers bring in dogs to visit with the kids.

The last 15 minutes of each respite night is a time for the kids to wind down and watch a video in the darkened waiting room of the Care Center , Blanché said. Each of the staff’s 16 staff mem-bers and several volunteers organize and run each area of the event, she said. Each event has the capacity for 15 to 18 children – nearly one medically trained staff member for each child. Children range in age from infant to 21.

The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, Blanché said.

“One mom and dad got dressed up for an evening out and were thrilled that they got to pick any restaurant and even had dessert,” she said. “Parents have time to sit down and relax and eat their own food.”

And the kids love the respite nights too – maybe even more than their parents, Blanché said. “They are always asking us when they can come and play again,” she said.

Staff members have been equally enthusiastic, she said.

“Our employees are so great and helping,” she said. “They can’t wait to do it again.”

The respite night idea got such rave reviews that other Children’s Care Centers were inspired to offer them, including the Care Centers in Westminster and Littleton .

The Children’s Care Center : Littleton offered a respite night last year with 35 to 45 kids, said Melinda Rowley, patient service coordinator.

“We are hoping we’ll do another one around Christmas,” she said. “It was so helpful for families. We had such a positive reaction.”