SPOKANE, Wash. — Having to take a child to the hospital is a terrifying experience, not only for the child, but for the parents as well. When a diagnosis requires overnight stays, the anxiety really kicks in.
Providence Sacred Heart Children's Hospital tries to make that experience a little less scary by pairing kids with a child life specialist, a sort of built-in hospital buddy.
The Young's are a local family that have taken their daughter to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital since she was only two years old.
She is now nine and has gone through countless surgeries. An exact diagnosis has still not been found.
The family says they couldn't have done this without their child life specialist.
"I was in a lot of pain and I kept calling for Lea," Calysta "Caly" Young, a patient at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, said. "And one of the times she wasn't there. And she just came right up. Even though she was doing something, she always has been there for me."
Caly met Lea Stevens the first time she was admitted. It was a terrifying time for the entire family.
"When Caly was just two, right after her second birthday, we brought her in what was the beginning of a seizure and didn't know anything beyond that in the middle of a scary snowy snowstorm," Caly's mom, April, said.
Caly stayed in the hospital for 23 days after that. As she got closer to discharge, she was introduced to Stevens.
"My first thought probably was we were going to be really, really good friends," Caly said.
And Caly was right.
The two of them play games, do arts and crafts and even run down the halls together.
Stevens says she's seen Caly grow so much over the past six years.
"The first time I met her, she, it used to take so many attempts to get IV in her," Stevens said. "And we used to have to use nitrous, which is like laughing gas to just kind of help calm her body enough to get through it. And now she's doing procedures completely independent of even her mom being in the room."
Caly's mom says sometimes, when Caly is screaming in pain, all she wants is Stevens.
"When Lea enters the room, and you see her smile, and it's just that piece, you can't take that away from me," Caly's mom said. "Yeah, I just can't put it into words how much of a relief and gift it is to us to then sit back and go. You're not kidding. It really is gonna be okay."
The Young's say Providence Sacred Heart Children's Hospital makes this process feel a lot more doable.
The Young family now visits the hospital on a monthly basis, and Caly always has Stevens there to cheer her on.
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