Parents, families, or other people significant to the child are encouraged to become involved in their child's care with the support and assistance of the nursing staff. Child life specialists are skilled in providing appropriate therapeutic, educational, and recreational interventions for hospitalized children and their families, and assist children with potentially threatening, invasive, or painful procedures. In collaboration with pediatric art and music therapists, a variety of unique and exciting activities is offered. The Rainbow Family Resource Center offers patients and families recreational books and lay medical reading materials to help increase understanding of medical events and diagnoses. Our librarian and many volunteers provide bedside reading and group storytelling for patients.
School activities are a familiar and reassuring routine for the hospitalized child.
Teachers from The Cleveland Public Schools help Rainbow patients to stay current with class work, despite the interruption of a hospital stay. Social workers facilitate safe and cost-effective discharge of medically and psychosocially complex patients. The Family and Child Protection Program, which centralizes the management of suspected child abuse, neglect and domestic violence, and The Perinatal Substance Abuse Program, a community outreach program linking hospital and community services with family members in their homes. Social work staff involved in these programs have specialized training in child protection and certification in substance abuse treatment. Social workers also contribute to hospital and community educational programs, including coordination of social work graduate student internships within University Hospitals.