Tucked away on the fourth floor of Golisano Children’s at UK is the Child Life Play Area, an activity room filled with toys, video games, art supplies and more to keep children of all ages entertained between examinations and procedures.
The playroom’s hours allow patients and their families to visit twice each day, to enjoy some downtime and take their minds off the illnesses or injuries that brought them to the hospital in the first place.
Once a month, the playroom hosts “Cooking with Chef,” an interactive event led by Nicholas Duke, Compass Healthcare’s Director of Dining.
“I’ve been doing the program for about a year and a half,” said Duke, who introduced himself as Chef Nick. “We’ve done snow cones. We’ve done a portable ice cream station. We did tanghulu, which is candied fruit. For that one, I pre-skewered the fruit and made a simple syrup for the kids to dip the fruit. That was a fun one.”
The most recent “Cooking with Chef” day invited children to color fondant-topped brownies with edible paint. Each child was given a goodie bag that included toys, a palette of paint and a brush, combining art with delicious desserts.
Around the activity table, kids were hard at work painting while Chef Nick provided praise and helpful suggestions for their artwork.
Jocelyn Smith watched her daughter, Addison, paint and enjoyed a moment of downtime herself. They’re in the middle of an extended stay in the children’s hospital as Addison has corrective spinal surgery.
“We’ve been down here [in the playroom] just about every day it’s been open. We’ll play video games and have fun. We made keychains the other day, and Addison made some to send to her friends back home,” said Smith. “We really like coming here. It sets up the whole day. After appointments and lunch, she’ll come play. It helps Addison stay busy and gives her something to look forward to.”
Cheyenne Martinez, Outpatient Experience Manager, assisted Chef Nick in the activity room, handing out gift bags and answering questions from the parents.
Martinez has worked in food service at UK HealthCare for the last six years, working her way up from distributing trays in the children’s hospital to becoming a patient ambassador and now experience manager. Helping kids through their hospital journey is one of her favorite parts of the job.
“For these kids, the playroom is a space where they can get distracted from all the tests. The parents come in and get to take a break from the hard decisions, or maybe do the opposite and have time to think,” said Martinez.
Once all the children have finished their brownie artwork, Chef Nick collects the remaining brownies and goodie bags and starts to make rounds for the children who couldn’t visit the playroom that day.
“Having a place like this speaks to general empathy, serving people and making their day better,” he said. “Healthcare isn’t about people as numbers. We’re all human beings.”