Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2024 - 15

PARTNERSHIPS / FEATURE
BY THE NUMBERS
Measuring the clinical impact
87%
increase in
physical activity
really make us different. "
Team IMPACT's staff of clinical
social workers and certified child life
specialists ensure the right partnerships,
create personalized goals, and
monitor metrics for every child paired
with a team.
" We're not just taking a kid and placing
them on a team and hoping that
works, " said Josh Walker, Mid-Atlantic
regional executive director. " We've
been very intentional about the process
of finding the child the right team
82%
improved cooperation
in medical care
82%
improved
independence with
medical care
and the right situation that's right for
their specific condition. And then we
have a clinically trained professional to
help walk that team and child through
those first two years. "
Long-term involvement in Team
IMPACT is related to improvement
in emotional resilience, which can
influence overall quality of life for
children with illness and disability.
" What our families tell us is that their
kids are more confident. They are more
independent. They have a sense of
78%
improved ability to
advocate for themselves
with the medical team
hopefulness and see themselves in a
different way. And what the data tells
us is that there is an improved level of
resilience, " Rogovin said.
The program produces these outcomes
in myriad ways, but for Cora,
diagnosed with spinal muscular
atrophy, it was all about the encouragement
from her athletic friends.
During the pandemic, Cora couldn't
go in person to physical therapy appointments
and was instructed to
walk on the treadmill five minutes a
day. Initially, the 5-year-old refused.
But one day her mom shared a Spotify
playlist created by her Team IMPACT
teammates
at
the University
Minnesota. She was allowed to listen
only while doing her modified physical
therapy. Cora immediately got on
the treadmill. Starting with one song,
she worked her way up to a mile every
day. She still listens to the playlist,
which is now more than 17 hours long.
" It wasn't about a playlist for this
little girl but about her team and the
love that they had for her, " Rogovin
said. " And it is a living playlist that has
been added to over the years-every
time one of the players hears a new
song they think Cora will like, they
add it. It has become a symbol of their
relationship in a way that you could
never have planned. "
Learn more about CHA's partnership with Team
IMPACT and how hospitals can get involved at
childrenshospitals.org/teamimpact.
of
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Summer 2024
15
http://www.childrenshospitals.org/teamimpact
Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2024

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