To honor child life specialists worldwide, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® partner Delta Air Lines created the Child Life Specialist of the Year award. Sarah Beth Gray of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt was the first to receive the recognition.
Serving in the Department of Radiology, Gray was instrumental in creating the Patient Awake While Scanned (PAWS) program that empowers patients to complete MRI scans without receiving general anesthesia and has served as a model for other hospitals. Delta presented Gray with airfare tickets and the Child Life department with a gift to help purchase additional movie goggles and headphones worn by PAWS MRI patients to allow them to watch a movie during their scan.
– by Paige Turner