NYU Winthrop Hospital celebrated “Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day” by hosting children of staff members in an exciting day of healthcare discovery and activities.
Thirty five children, ages 7 to 11, toured the hospital and visited the NYU Winthrop Research and Academic Center, learning about special fields of healthcare expertise. The children were especially animated upon donning protective lab coats, masks and caps that allowed them to enter an area that is usually off limits to all but a few—the Central Sterile Service (CSS) department. There the children learned, in simulated activity, how to “prep and pack” tools, readying them for sterilization in autoclaves (ovens) for later use in the operating room.
“We wanted the children to understand the role we have and its impact on patient safety and infection prevention,” said Richard Kraft, Director of Center Sterile Service at NYU Winthrop Hospital.
When asked what she enjoyed about the CSS visit, 8-year-old Alicea Rekha from Huntington said, “I liked the part that had tools that they called instruments, and we put them in a bag so no one gets hurt because they’re really sharp.”
That CSS visit was followed by hands-on work with a Pediatric Nutritionist who taught the group about healthy snacks and diabetes and how people get it. Then there was a lively exercise led by NYU Winthrop Athletic Trainer Christopher Napoli, who taught the staff’s sons and daughters about stretching before sports, the importance of exercising, and what an Athletic Trainer does. The children partnered up with one another to do a core conditioning exercise, the “patty-cake plank.” Getting into push-up positions and facing one another, the pairs tried to lift one hand each to do a patty cake with their partner, all the while with the group singing loudly, “Patty cake, patty cake baker’s man…”
“It seemed fun, to see new things and explore the building that my mom works in. It was very exciting, lots of new things and I made new friends,” said 11-year-old Christian Parlog, from Hicksville, about wanting to visit NYU Hospital.
The day finished with a healthcare test game with participants racing to hit their instant-response clickers with the right answers to questions such as how a physician puts you to sleep, whether by talking to you, tickling you, or with anesthesia.
—Submitted by NYU Winthrop Hospital
