Mattie Dunn, 2020 Child Life Specialist of the Year, presented by Delta Air Lines

As an employee of Cincinnati Children’s for 30 years and a child life specialist for the past seven years, Mattie Dunn empowers children and families as they navigate complicated and emotional journeys with psychiatric, behavioral and developmental disabilities.

SALT LAKE CITY (PRWEB)
November 17, 2020

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) is pleased to announce that Mattie Dunn is the recipient of the second annual Child Life Specialist of the Year award.

Presented by Delta Air Lines, Dunn was chosen from a select group of child life specialists nominated by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals member hospitals from across the United States in recognition for her outstanding service and commitment to patients.

As an employee of Cincinnati Children’s for 30 years and a child life specialist for the past seven years, Dunn empowers children and families as they navigate complicated and emotional journeys with psychiatric, behavioral and developmental disabilities. Because standard medical procedures like blood draws or MRIs can be daunting for a nonverbal or disabled patient, their family and hospital staff, Dunn acts as an advocate to identify and accommodate the individual needs of her patients.

Her creative and personalized approach eases a child’s anxiety and fear while delivering first-rate medical and emotional care. Dunn’s attendance to her patients, her optimism and tireless work ethic inspired her entire community.

As the winner of the Child Life Specialist of the Year award, Dunn received two round-trip Delta tickets. The airline also made a $15,000 donation to Cincinnati Children’s in honor of Dunn.

Delta Air Lines, in partnership with CMN Hospitals, created the Child Life Specialist of the Year award to honor and recognize the hard work and compassion of Child Life Specialists and the critical services they provide for hospitalized children and their families, along with bringing awareness to the need for child life funding at children’s hospitals.

Child Life Specialists help normalize the hospital experience and bring joy and comfort to pediatric patients and their families. Many of the funds raised by CMN Hospitals are used to fund Child Life programs and help make up the gap between what government and insurance pay for and the actual cost of caring for kids in our member hospitals.

*video footage filmed prior to the pandemic

About Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s, a nonprofit academic medical center established in 1883, is one of the oldest and most distinguished pediatric hospitals in the United States. A leading medical research institution and teaching hospital, Cincinnati Children’s is consistently ranked as one of America’s best children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.Learn more at http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org.

About Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds and awareness for 170 member hospitals that provide 32 million treatments each year to kids across the U.S. and Canada. Donations stay local to fund critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment and charitable care. Since 1983, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $7 billion, most of it $1 at a time through the charity’s Miracle Balloon icon. Its various fundraising partners and programs support the nonprofit’s mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible. Find out why children’s hospitals need community support, and learn about your member hospital, at CMNHospitals.org and facebook.com/CMNHospitals.

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