Photos By Michael D. Spencer

Alumni

A Friend to Families

Once a patient at Boston Children’s Hospital, Miranda Day now works to help the families of a new generation of patients

Miranda Day was one year old when she first visited Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) for treatment of scoliosis and a tethered spinal cord. That rare condition, where the base of her spine split in two and attached to tissue near her tailbone, required her to return frequently throughout her childhood for additional treatment. Day’s earliest memories of those visits are of the small touches that made her feel special during a challenging time: a cup of chocolate pudding and the gift of a doll wearing a cast just like the one she was about to receive. After one surgery left Day (’03) immobilized by a torso-length brace, she rode in a colorful cart through the hospital’s garden.

“My parents and doctors gave me every opportunity to be the person I wanted to be and made sure there wasn’t anything that was going to set me back,” Day says. To help Day’s family manage life away from home, her doctor let them use his office phone. He would also help Day’s mother find a spare bed in a nearby nurse’s dorm for longer stays.

Day, now the director of family and volunteer services at BCH, is in a position to do the same for a new generation of patients. She manages more than 50 staff members and 700 volunteers who collectively run a range of programs, including comfort dog visits, wellness classes, and two communal family houses—none of which existed when Day was a patient. Her job, and her department, represent an emphasis on family-centered care that’s becoming more common across the healthcare industry.

Like the rest of that industry, though, Day and her staff had to reinvent much of what they do for the COVID-19 pandemic. Even working remotely, her goal remained the same: “The hope is that families can put their energy and focus on the place that they need it most.”

HELPING HANDS

Walk into BCH’s main lobby and the first thing you’ll see are the glass doors of the Hale Family Center for Families. It provides a hub where families can find just about any amenity they could need during a stay at the top-rated children’s hospital in the country.

“Children’s Hospital does a really great job at giving patients and families hope and direction in their healthcare—but there’s a lot of other things that still have to go on simultaneously in people’s lives,” Day says. That’s where her staff, who run the Hale Center, can step in and offer emotional and logistical support. The center’s staff and volunteers also serve satellite campuses in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington, North Dartmouth, Peabody, and Waltham. In Boston alone, they might help 1,000 families and patients in a normal week.

Since Day’s own childhood visits to BCH, a growing body of research has shown that play and recreation for children and support interventions for families can help pediatric health outcomes. BCH has invested heavily in those areas, not only expanding family and volunteer services that Day manages, but also child life services, which works more directly with patients. A close relationship with BU Wheelock has helped.

Suzanne Graca (’89), a child life specialist at BCH and a clinical instructor in BU Wheelock’s child life program, says that this prioritization of child life programs at both institutions has helped BCH provide a powerful, holistic approach to pediatric healthcare. “We see the family through the child, and Miranda’s team gets to know the child through the family,” she says. Graca estimates that more than three-quarters of the 60-person child life staff at BCH graduated from Wheelock.

Day began her BCH career as a child life specialist shortly after completing an internship there and receiving her master’s in child life and family-centered care from Wheelock.

“As my career path started to evolve, I realized that supporting programs and resources to do the work that is meaningful to patients and families—that is something I’m pretty good at,” she says. So, after 14 years in child life and managing the hospital’s creative arts program, Day moved over to administration as director of family and volunteer services.

The Hale Center’s programs provide parking and housing assistance, yoga and Reiki classes, support groups, work space for parents, basic necessities like toiletries and emergency clothing, even a bottomless pot of hot coffee—all of it free for any guests of the hospital. “If we can help with that, it makes every day a little bit better,” Day says.

CORONAVIRUS CHANGES

With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting all aspects of the healthcare industry, Day and her staff reimagined their entire operation in March. “Everything we offer is very patient- and family-facing,” Day says. “Our wellness program was all about touch and engagement.” Most of the center’s resources are focused on serving critically ill patients and their families, a population that’s been present throughout the pandemic.

The center’s lounge and meeting area capacity was reduced, volunteer programs suspended—even the coffee service was cut off. The center’s staff adjusted, maximizing the virtual resources available to them. They even found some advantages to working remotely.

When volunteers were prevented from taking comfort dogs into patient rooms, they were trained to conduct virtual visits online, engaging the kids on the other end of the connection by letting them ask questions or prompting the dogs to do tricks. “Now we’re reaching areas that we didn’t reach before,” Day says. “Places like the bone marrow transplant floor, where the risk of infections is too high and we couldn’t bring the dogs to before—now we can.”

A Spanish-language parents’ group also flourished online, drawing more parents than had participated in person. “That’s been a real success story—to find value in that conversation, to connect and build relationships,” Day says. “I’m really proud of that group for being able to tackle some difficult topics.”

Yoga and Reiki classes also migrated online, while logistical offerings like parking support and laundry services continued on-site, managed by a scaled-back staff. Day only stops in once or twice a week, working from home the rest of the time. “I went into this job for the people, for the children and families, and it’s hard to not see anyone,” Day says.

She misses the experience of watching someone’s shoulders relax when they realize something has been taken care of, but she’s also realistic about when that opportunity will return. “We’re slowly thinking about what we look like post-COVID,” she says. She expects that her team’s in-person services and programs will be phased back in very slowly—and some not at all until there’s a COVID-19 vaccine available.

For now, Day remains focused on making each patient’s stay a little easier. “Everyone might have a health scare in their life, from a broken bone to an allergy or bee sting to something more monumental like a chronic condition, but that doesn’t mean it should define you. Being able to help someone cope with that moment in their life is really meaningful.”