The idea of any child having to undergo surgery can be stressful. If that child has special needs, the hospital experience can be even more intense and traumatic. But now, thanks to a generous grant from the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Nemours Children’s Health System is expanding their REACH Program so that they can meet the unique needs of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), sensory issues, mental health disorders, and similar conditions.
Three years ago, Nemours, with the help of the Flutie Foundation, built two REACH (which stands for Respecting Each Awesome Child Here) emergency rooms after figuring out that the long waits, noise of other patients, and the endless stream of doctors and nurses could be overwhelming for those prone to stress and sensory overload. In addition to providing a calm and less-stimulating environment, the REACH care team receives ongoing special training for working with those with ASD as well as procedure planning and recognizing and managing anxiety and agitation.
Doug Flutie Jr., founder of the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, expressed his gratitude by saying, “We are honored to continue our partnership with Nemours and so grateful for their careful attention to the diverse needs of all patients, including children and families affected by autism.”
The new Doug Flutie Grant will expand REACH from the ER to the surgical area of the hospital with a special pre-operative and post-operative room. These rooms will incorporate the use of sensory-friendly equipment and other appropriate calming and engaging resources designed to hopefully eliminate the need to use sedatives and restraints to prepare a child for surgery. Since sedatives can often have side effects, being able to reduce the usage of them is an added benefit to the patient and their family.
The REACH program is working, too. An independent study found that, on average, one out of every four autistic patients who visited a regular ER needed to be medicated or restrained. But, in the past two years, out of the 860 pediatric ER visits in which the REACH model was used, fewer than 6% of those patients required anxiety medication and less than 1% needed to be physically restrained.
Emily Bradley, Surgical Nurse at Nemours Children’s Hospital, stated, “Our program was designed to help prevent escalation of anxiety and agitation in children with ASD, therefore leading to the reduced use of sedatives and restraints.” Bradley continued, “Since many of our ASD patients experience frequent hospital visits, causing stress and anxiety, the ability to minimize the use of sedative medications, which do have side effects, is an added benefit for our patients and their families.”
We certainly are lucky to have an internationally recognized children’s health system that is committed to creating environments that will allow them to deliver health care in a way that meets the needs of all children right here in Orlando.
Nemours is an internationally recognized children’s health system that owns and operates the two free-standing hospitals: the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Fla., along with outpatient facilities in five states, delivering pediatric primary, specialty and urgent care. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org, and offers on-demand, online video patient visits through Nemours CareConnect. Nemours ReadingBrightstart.org is a program dedicated to preventing reading failure in young children, grounded in Nemours’ understanding that child health and learning are inextricably linked, and that reading level is a strong predictor of adult health. Established as The Nemours Foundation through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, Nemours provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy and prevention programs to families in the communities it serves.
