Your Child in the Hospital
Household
Parents of sick or injured children often don’t have time to do daily chores. Friends and family can help with these routine tasks. Even when the illness or injury is not too severe, a home-cooked meal or a bag of small toys can express love and provide comfort. Household tasks that family members of friends can do are:
• Provide meals
• Take care of pets or livestock
• Mow grass, shovel snow, rake leaves, weed gardens
• Clean house
• Grocery shop (especially when the family is due home from the hospital)
• Do laundry
• Provide a place to stay near the hospital
Friends from home sent boxes of art supplies to us when the whole family spent those first ten weeks in the Ronald McDonald House far from home. They sent scissors, paints, paper, colored pens. It was a great help for Carrie Beth and her two sisters. One friend even sent an Easter package with straw hats for each girl, and flowers, ribbons, and glue to decorate them with.
Table of Contents
All Guides- Introduction
- 1. Before You Go
- 2. The Emergency Room
- 3. Preparing Your Child
- 4. The Facilities
- 5. The Staff
- 6. Communicating with Doctors
- 7. Common Procedures
- 8. Surgery
- 9. Pain Management
- 10. Family and Friends. What to Say
- 11. Family and Friends. How to Help
- 12. Feelings and Behavior
- 13. Siblings
- 14. Long-Term Illness or Injury
- 15. School
- 16. Medical and Financial Records
- 17. Insurance
- 18. Sources of Financial Help
- 19. Looking Back
- My Hospital Journal
- Packing List
- Resources
- Contributors
- About the Author