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Child Life Specialist Kim Jerabek helps ease patients’ anxieties in a variety of ways. Kyle Sexton (left) has fun with the Vecta distraction station.

Jai’wan Davis-Harbour and Jerabek help prepare a medical play doll for surgery.

Former U-M intern chooses career in Child Life at Mott

Wisconsin native Kim Jerabek chose the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital twice—first for an internship in the Child and Family Life department and then for her career as a child life specialist. She says that although Mott Hospital is a long way from her family, “It is such an amazing place to work, it makes it all worthwhile.”

As a certified child life specialist, Jerabek has a variety of roles to help patients and families cope with the stress of illness and hospitalization. Child life specialists use medical play to help patients prepare for medical tests and procedures; they educate patients using age appropriate language that makes it easier for children to understand; and they also help patients develop coping skills.

Jerabek majored in child development at the University of Wisconsin. She researched child life internships in the Midwest and chose Mott Hospital because of its ranking and the opportunity to get experience in a variety of patient care areas. During her internship she observed numerous procedures and surgeries and then learned how to explain them to patients of all different developmental stages. The internship, which lasted from January through April 2007, definitely lived up to her expectations.

Child life internships at Mott Hospital are divided into two six-week rotations with a week in between and a week at the end. The rotations give interns a chance to become part of the medical teams and get to know the areas well.

Interns are required to plan and implement a supportive program for each rotation. For her first rotation, Jerabek created a coping book (a version for school-age children and a version for preschool children) that included information about deep breathing and guided imagery. For her second rotation, Jerabek created a teaching book about the blood disorder sickle cell. The books she created during her internship continue to help patients.

Learning from the child life staff was another highlight of her internship. She says that each of her colleagues brings a unique style to their work, but that they all pour their hearts and souls into what they do. Interns also benefit from a variety of seminars that reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the department.

Now Jerabek works with the people who she learned from as an intern. She joined the department as an employee in June 2007. Her enthusiasm for working with her colleagues and helping children and their families is evident. Jerabek says, “The people who work in Child and Family Life taught me so much in my 14 weeks as an intern. They are a group of amazing people who have talents in so many areas of patient care.”

Learn more about Child Life internships and practicums here.