Senior Child Life Specialist-Facility Dog Handler

University of Iowa • Iowa City, IA

2d

About The Position

The Stead Family Children's Hospital is seeking a Facility Dog Handler on our Child Life team. Within UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital: The Senior Child Life Specialist plans, develops, implements, and evaluates comprehensive child life therapy programs and services within the scope of child life professional practice for pediatric and neonatal patients with complex and/or specialized needs. This includes educational, recreational, and therapeutic programs and activities that address and mitigate the developmental impact of illness and injury on infants, children, youth, and families.
A primary facility dog handler implements the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital Facility Dog program to provide outcome-focused, goal-oriented, animal assisted therapeutic interventions as part of the clinical care team to help pediatric patients and their families achieve health-related goals.
Provides child life clinical interventions, utilizing the SFCH facility dog to promote healing, play, normalization of environment, positive coping, and motivation in meeting clinical treatment goals. Oversees and prioritizes the referral process for therapeutic visits with patients, families and staff and demonstrates the ability to safely and effectively control, manage and care for the dog.
Implements and provides quality interactions utilizing a SFCH facility dog in order to support the emotional, developmental, and psychosocial needs of pediatric patients in a health care setting. The CL facility dog handler provides opportunities for patients to gain a sense of mastery, offers distraction and learning experiences, assists patients in meeting medical goals, and encourages family and peer interaction through facility dog interventions.
This child life specialist serves as the primary handler/caregiver for the SFCH facility dog during both work and non-work hours.
Position Responsibilities

Senior Activity Therapist-Child Life position responsibilities
Provide high quality patient care for children with complex or specialized needs including evaluation, assessment, and treatment appropriate for patient’s condition and age.
· Serve on committees and actively participate in meetings to collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team in coordinating therapeutic programs for individuals and groups of patients.
Demonstrate a cooperative, flexible and innovative problem-solving approach.
Serve as a clinical resource for others.
Create, participate in and conduct in-service training sessions to staff and students.
Evaluate patient progress and document results.
Perform routine and assigned clinical and administrative tasks in an efficient manner.
Adhere to institutional and departmental standards.
Maintain effective working relationships with faculty, staff, students and the public.
Maintain confidentiality of patient information.
Exhibit a commitment to quality and process improvement including participation in the Quality and Safety Rounds on home unit.
Perform other special projects and tasks as assigned.
Demonstrate respect for all members of the University community in the course of performing one’s duties and in response to administrators, supervisors, coworkers, and customers.
Represent the interests of the University and of unit leadership in the use of resources to meet service and productivity demands within unit goals and budgets; strive to promote continual process and quality improvement.
Seek opportunities to enhance one’s own professional knowledge, skills, and abilities as they relate to one’s current position and/or to prepare for potential future roles and overall career development.
In addition to the above Senior Activity Therapist- Child Life position description, the below responsibilities listed are required for the SFCH Facility Dog Handler position. Inability to perform these responsibilities with or without an accommodation may result in disqualification from the position.
· Serves as a handler for an assigned facility dog, providing clinical interventions that meet the psychosocial need of patients and families while supporting medical staff across settings.
· Develops and implements programming for facilitating dog support to pediatric patients, families, and staff. Support will include clinical settings, urgent needs, long term patients, acute and chronic diagnoses, and other high need patient populations, as well as play and events that impact children’s socio-emotional needs.
· Creates opportunities for public relations interest, outreach events, fundraisers and educational presentations about the SFCH facility dog program and its clinical impact for child life programming.
· Collaborates with CL manager, SFCH hospital leadership on grants for sustainability of the program. Maintains and initiates partnerships in the community.
· A primary facility dog handler will demonstrate the ability to work independently and collaborate with other disciplines as well as members of their own department.
· Demonstrate initiative in creative interventions using facility dog to reach unmet patient treatment goals.
· Works collaboratively on the health care team and across hospital departments.
· Maintains program statistics to assess and evaluate quality of programming.
· Participates in the planning and implementation of special events and programming that involve the facility dog.
· The primary dog handler/caregiver is responsible for the facility dog both during work and non-work hours (in and out of the facility), in collaboration with a secondary handler.
· Attends specific dog handling training and maintains all requirements for dog handlers as contractually established by Canine Assistants and UI SFCH.
The SFCH Facility Dog is a contracted “employee” who lives with and goes to work with their handler.
This position requires the facility dog handler to care for the SFCH facility dog 24/7. This includes, but is not limited to:
Transporting the facility dog to medical appointments, grooming appointments, and to/from work each day.
Educating their own family members on the appropriate care of the SFCH facility dog.
In addition to daily patient care, this employee is responsible for providing the SFCH facility dog with daily care breaks and appropriate assessment and communication of needs.

Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in Child Life, Child Development, Recreational Therapy, or closely related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
• Minimum two years working with hospitalized children and their families as a certified Child Life Specialist in a pediatric healthcare setting.
• Experience in providing procedural support to pediatric patients for a variety of medical experiences.
• Demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills
• This position requires a mastery of child life skills and knowledge to allow for focused growth on animal assisted interventions.
• Flexibility with daily work and schedule is required.
• Completion of a recognized Child Life internship consisting of at least 600 hours under the supervision of a certified child life specialist
• Certified Child Life specialist through the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP)
• Upon hire, must be trained and certified as an official dog handler by Canine Assistants

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Child Life, Child Development, Family Studies, or closely related field.
• Previous experience working with Animal Assisted Therapy dogs
• Experience with care of animals
• Three years’ experience as a certified Child Life Specialist in a pediatric child life program within an academic medical center
• Experience in program development and/or participation in rolling-out new programs or incentives

Responsibilities

• Provide high quality patient care for children with complex or specialized needs including evaluation, assessment, and treatment appropriate for patient’s condition and age.
• Serve on committees and actively participate in meetings to collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team in coordinating therapeutic programs for individuals and groups of patients.
• Demonstrate a cooperative, flexible and innovative problem-solving approach.
• Serve as a clinical resource for others.
• Create, participate in and conduct in-service training sessions to staff and students.
• Evaluate patient progress and document results.
• Perform routine and assigned clinical and administrative tasks in an efficient manner.
• Adhere to institutional and departmental standards.
• Maintain effective working relationships with faculty, staff, students and the public.
• Maintain confidentiality of patient information.
• Exhibit a commitment to quality and process improvement including participation in the Quality and Safety Rounds on home unit.
• Perform other special projects and tasks as assigned.
• Demonstrate respect for all members of the University community in the course of performing one’s duties and in response to administrators, supervisors, coworkers, and customers.
• Represent the interests of the University and of unit leadership in the use of resources to meet service and productivity demands within unit goals and budgets; strive to promote continual process and quality improvement.
• Seek opportunities to enhance one’s own professional knowledge, skills, and abilities as they relate to one’s current position and/or to prepare for potential future roles and overall career development.
• Serves as a handler for an assigned facility dog, providing clinical interventions that meet the psychosocial need of patients and families while supporting medical staff across settings.
• Develops and implements programming for facilitating dog support to pediatric patients, families, and staff. Support will include clinical settings, urgent needs, long term patients, acute and chronic diagnoses, and other high need patient populations, as well as play and events that impact children’s socio-emotional needs.
• Creates opportunities for public relations interest, outreach events, fundraisers and educational presentations about the SFCH facility dog program and its clinical impact for child life programming.
• Collaborates with CL manager, SFCH hospital leadership on grants for sustainability of the program. Maintains and initiates partnerships in the community.
• A primary facility dog handler will demonstrate the ability to work independently and collaborate with other disciplines as well as members of their own department.
• Demonstrate initiative in creative interventions using facility dog to reach unmet patient treatment goals.
• Works collaboratively on the health care team and across hospital departments.
• Maintains program statistics to assess and evaluate quality of programming.
• Participates in the planning and implementation of special events and programming that involve the facility dog.
• The primary dog handler/caregiver is responsible for the facility dog both during work and non-work hours (in and out of the facility), in collaboration with a secondary handler.
• Attends specific dog handling training and maintains all requirements for dog handlers as contractually established by Canine Assistants and UI SFCH.
• Transporting the facility dog to medical appointments, grooming appointments, and to/from work each day.
• Educating their own family members on the appropriate care of the SFCH facility dog.
• In addition to daily patient care, this employee is responsible for providing the SFCH facility dog with daily care breaks and appropriate assessment and communication of needs.

Benefits

• Fringe benefit package including paid vacation; sick leave; health, dental, life and disability insurance options; and generous employer contributions into retirement plans
• The University of Iowa offers a generous benefits package, including paid vacation and paid sick leave.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level