A visit to the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) can be a stressful time for a sick or hurt child, you and for the entire family. Child Life Specialists are present to assist your family through the process and provide emotional support.

Families of pediatric hematology/oncology clinic patients now have access to a networked computer conveniently located near their waiting area. While their children are receiving treatment, families can acquire basic or more advanced computer skills, learn to find reliable medical information in English or Spanish from selected sites on the satellite's home page, check e-mail, or simply surf the web. Health links will take users to sites on general consumer health, children and cancer, specific hematology and oncology diagnoses, as well as summer camps for children with special needs, palliative care and bereavement.

The Pediatric Ambulatory Care Clinic area sees children primarily ages birth to young adolescents.  This is a high volume clinic with patients being seen for a variety of medical needs including primary care visits, immunizations, and specialty services such as neurology and pulmonary.  The Child Life Specialist provides procedural preparation and support to anxious patients waiting to be seen by their primary care physician as well as offer parents techniques in positions for comfort during procedures. A Child Life Specialist also provides activities in the clinic that include individual art projects, and therapeutic play experiences that provide opportunities for socialization, expression, and normalization of the healthcare environment. 

Reach Out and Read at Mount Sinai Medical Center makes literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading.  Reach Out and Read trains doctors and nurses to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give books to children at pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age.  By building on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers, Reach Out and Read helps families and communities encourage early literacy skills so children enter school prepared for success in reading.