The Cargill Family Resource Center,
The Kelsey Lynn Roberg Family Resource Center,
Children's Hospitals and Clinics
Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota
Several years ago, the Children's Hospitals and Clinics convened six focus groups to explore new opportunities to enhance services for patients and their families. One of the areas of discussion was expansion of the Family Resource Center to offer library services and access to technology in a therapeutic environment at both hospitals. (Prior to this, services and programs were provided on the Minneapolis campus in a space that didn’t accommodate walk-in visitors). The focus groups included parents, representatives from community agencies, and hospital staff from various disciplines. The hospitals’ Marketing and Communications Department provided a trained facilitator. Focus group results supported the need for a coordinated approach to providing families with information resources. Parents wanted a comfortable, non-clinical environment where they could connect with other parents, relax away from the bedside, find health and parenting information in a variety of formats, and access computers. Community agencies were interested in working more closely with the hospitals and also making some of their resources available to families.
The focus group results were presented to the institution’s Leadership Team who then approved the proposal for expansion of the resource centers. Funding was obtained from one corporate donor in Minneapolis, and a combination of corporate, private, and hospital fundraising in St. Paul. Operational expenses are budgeted through the Family Resources Department of the hospitals, with on-going philanthropic support for specific programs and services. The institution’s Marketing Department budgets for the Resource Centers’ promotional materials.
Location. The Cargill Family Resource Center at Children’s in Minneapolis is located near the skyway entrance from the parking ramp, adjacent to the hospital information desk, and next to the sibling play area.
The resource center offers a family library space, including an area for children, along with an adjacent Family Meeting Room. The meeting room is prioritized for family use including support groups, care conferences, and patient-family education. Additionally, the Family Meeting Room as well as the outdoor patio, provides a place for families to gather and share lunch in a private, family-friendly space.
The Kelsey Lynn Roberg Friendly Resource Center at Children’s in St. Paul opened in 1999. It is located in the Garden View Medical Building, an outpatient center adjacent to the hospital.
Hours, Programs, and Services. The Family Resource Centers are open to everyone; families who have children in the hospital, outpatient families, the community, hospital staff, and those visiting the hospital. The Centers are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The centers provide a warm, welcoming environment for families. Among the programs and services are:
- Consumer health library collection of books, magazines, and brochures.
- Videos and a comfortable, semi-private video viewing area.
- Information about local services (restaurants, hotels, parks, bus routes, friendly entertainment, etc.).
A workstation for families with data ports and outlets for laptop computers; use of fax, telephone, and photocopier. - Computer stations with email and Internet access - and staff available to provide hands-on assistance.
- Injury prevention education and sale of car seats, helmets, and smoke alarms.
Babysitting classes. - Assistance to families filing for social security benefits and medial assistance.
- The “Parent Warmline,” a free phone service that responds to questions about behavior and child development.
- “No Hang-Ups,” a telephone tape library for teens.
- “Caring Bridge,” a free service that helps families create a customized web page to stay in touch with friends and relatives.
Digital camera check-out.
Community Connections. From the beginning, the Resource Centers have collaborated with the community. While hospital departments have helped build the library collection, some of the materials have come from community organizations. For example, when a community-based parent support group for families of children with congenital heart defects began meeting in the Family Meeting Room, they also began to house their materials and resources in the center. The Resource Centers are also active collaborators with numerous agencies involving childhood injury prevention and family support programs (especially SSI).
Innovative uses of technology to support families. Children's Hospitals and Clinics subscribe to Caring Bridge, a free service that allows families to communicate with friends and relatives via the Internet. Families can easily create a website, write an on-line journal, share photos on-line by using one of the Resource Centers’ digital cameras, update others on their child’s condition, and receive messages from website visitors. Staff in the Family Resource Centers assist families in using Caring Bridge and with loading photos on to their web pages. Patient websites have been used to communicate with loved ones around the world, from Australia to Northern Africa.
Resource Center computers have also been used to support families in other ways. For example with the help of the hospitals’ Information Technology staff, the Resource Center was able to load Persian fonts onto a computer to allow a parent to read his hometown Iranian newspaper and connect with family in Iran.
Through the leadership of the Director of Informatics, a Children’s physician, the hospital maintains the Family Resource Center “Internet Start Page” to help families find reliable health information on the web. It is located at http://www.childrenshc.org.