Hometown Helpers: Child Life Specialist helps care for children at EIRMC
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is introducing you to Hometown Helpers in our community. We want to spotlight a firefighter, police officer, city worker or others who quietly keep our cities and counties running.
This week, we are featuring Diana Moll, an eight-year child life specialist at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
“As a child life specialist, I help explain procedures and surgeries to kids in ways that they can understand things that they might hear, see, or smell so they can get used to what’s going to happen,” said Moll.
She works with everyone from babies to teenagers and provides tools to distract them from a procedure. Some of those tools include an iPad or toys.
She also helps siblings and parents understand what’s happening if they have concerns.
Moll said she loves working with children.
“Kids are the best. I think we have so much to learn from them. Their resilience and their happiness about life. Just their ability to cope with hard experiences,” she said.
Her job is one of a kind at EIRMC. She is the only child life specialist.
“Child life specialists are commonly found in children’s hospitals, so I think that makes EIRMC unique,” she said. “Oftentimes, I am seen as the play person, which is absolutely true.”
But Moll says there are also different components that don’t involve play, such as working with doctors, nurses and therapists to provide family-centered care.
And the job can be difficult at times.
“When I help with bereavement — so doing hand holds, handprints of children or talking to siblings about what might have happened in a traumatic experience when that child passes – that can be the hardest but maybe the most rewarding part of my job,” said Moll. “I’m part of an experience where it’s so intimate that a normal, typical person would not be involved. (Family members) allow me to help them during this difficult time.”
Moll cares deeply about the service she provides and was recently recognized for her hard work with a Humanitarian award. She was given EIRMC’s Frist Humanitarian Award, which recognizes an employee for their humanitarian spirit and philanthropic work.
Moll also loves to help children outside of her job by volunteering her time to nonprofit organizations, like Camp Magical Moments.
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Moll shows every day that she’s a Hometown Helper by ensuring that children who come into the hospital have the best experience possible.