Child's play a focus of medical internships

Nora Buell and Aden Smigel beamed as they watched the raised torch go by at the head of the parade. They cheered on competitors during various sporting events. The Paris Olympics? Not quite. Rather, the University of Richmond seniors helped coordinate a fun-filled, simulated Olympics program for pediatric patients in the Child Life Program of New York City’s renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where the two interned this summer.

“For our Olympic volleyball match, we created a net out of IV poles and medical tape,” Buell said. “Many of the kids are connected to IV poles, so their parents pushed the poles while the kids tried to get a beach ball over the net. One little girl got out of her wheelchair and played while balancing on her only leg.”

Buell and Smigel said the chance to bring a measure of joy to young cancer patients and their families made their MSK Kids work truly gratifying. Although they applied for internships as child life assistants without each other’s knowledge, it turns out they have a lot in common.

Both are Science Leadership Scholars majoring in leadership studies and chemistry. Both had prior experience working with children, Buell as a substitute public elementary school teacher in her hometown of Duxbury, Massachusetts, and Smigel as a day camp director in her hometown of Alexandria, Virginia. And when they were looking for a good placement for their credit-bearing Jepson School of Leadership Studies internship, Jepson School Associate Dean Kerstin Soderlund connected both of them to MSK.

Buell and Smigel worked with the MSK child life specialists to support the children’s psychosocial needs, an important part of the treatment regimen. They alternated between the out-patient clinic, where children received their vaccines and medications, and the in-patient clinic, where children stayed for days or even weeks. Duties included supervising the recreation room, planning and executing fun programming for the children, and decorating patients’ rooms.

“We played a lot of Uno, made a lot of bracelets, drew a lot of pictures,” Buell said. “It was super fun. We also had a leadership role managing the volunteers. Some of them had been there longer than we had, so it was important to respect their knowledge when delegating tasks to them.”

The two Spiders drew on leadership theories when working with the children as well.  

“One day I was in the playroom when a toddler snatched a car from another kid,” Smigel said. “I remembered a paper I read in my Leadership and Society class that emphasized framing responses in a positive way that gets people to do what you want. So instead of telling the toddler, ‘No,’ I said, ‘Friend, let’s go find our own special car to play with.’ And he was like, ‘Great! Let’s go!’”

Although working with pediatric cancer patients was challenging at times, Buell and Smigel found it rewarding. “Knowing that I was helping — even if I was just bringing a child fuzzy socks or a fun blanket — making their stay just a little better was a big thing for me,” Smigel said. “My work allowed the nurses and doctors to do their work.”

“My time at MSK Kids helped me figure out where in health care I fit in,” Smigel continued. “Now I will work to become a nurse anesthetist, a career that will combine my leadership studies and chemistry education and my love of helping people.”

“This was a life-changing summer for me,” Buell said. “Who I was in June is not who I am now. I could see myself working as a child life specialist. I am so grateful for the last few months.”