Our Programs | Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy | UC Davis Children's Hospital

Children and teenagers display courage and resilience as they undergo multiple tests, procedures, treatments, and hospitalizations when they are diagnosed with a serious illness. UC Davis Children’s Hospital utilizes the Beads of Courage program to promote resiliency, coping and bravery. Each bead represents a different part of a child/teen’s medical journey. Beads of Courage offers different programs including:

• Hematology/Oncology
• Chronic illnesses
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
• Cardiac
• Siblings

The Comfort Commitment is a children’s hospital initiative to make comfort management an essential component to pediatric care at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

In collaboration with children and families, we develop individualized comfort plans to best support coping with distressing procedures and decrease pain and anxiety.

The patient care goals for this initiative include:

• Reduce anxiety and enhance comfort
• Strengthen coping abilities
• Empower children and families
• Unify procedural comfort measure protocols throughout the children’s hospital

Facility Dogs are expertly trained to help comfort and normalize the experience of children and teens during a visit to the hospital. The facility dogs at UC Davis Health were trained and provided free of charge to the child life specialist handlers from Canine Companions for Independence. Currently there are four facility dogs who work on different units at the hospital:

• Zeebee – Children’s Surgery Center
• Huggie – Pediatric Infusion Room
• Paloma – Davis 7 Pediatrics
• Daniels – Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

(Please keep in mind that each handler prioritizes visits based on patient care needs each day.)

BayKids uses filmmaking to empower and provide patients with an opportunity for self-expression and creativity. Once a month a BayKids producer comes to the hospital to encourage and support patients in creating short films.