Our Cincinnati Program

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is a champion of family-centered care and understands that family presence is very important to the emotional, social, spiritual and physical comfort and recovery of a hospitalized child. They employ a Child Life staff to work with families in supporting their children. But even Cincinnati Children’s cannot provide sufficient numbers of trained staff to support the children whose families cannot be with them (approximately 15%) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Those children need uninterrupted hours of staff time to even begin to replace a consistent family presence.

Josh Cares Fills the Gap

In 2005 Josh Cares committed to the establishment of two Child Life Fellowships to fill the gap and serve that 15%. The fellowships last for one year and each one costs approximately $35,000, inclusive of wages, taxes and benefits. Qualified applicants have received a Bachelor's degree in Child Life or Psychology, they have completed an internship at a pediatric hospital, and they are prepared to obtain their board certification in Child Life Services during their Josh Cares fellowship.

Our Child Life Fellows will be with those children when their families cannot. They will be there during their greatest time of need – a familiar face to help fill their lonely hours, to read them stories until they fall asleep, to play games with them, to hold their hands and be with them during painful procedures, to talk to them about anything, to let them know they are cared for and special.

There are many wonderful charities that provide gifts and tangible items to the patients of Cincinnati Children’s. But sometimes what children need most is the undivided attention of someone who makes them feel special. The funds raised by the Josh Cares program will be used for that purpose – augmenting the therapeutic services of Cincinnati Children’s by providing individual care and attention for children in the ICU who can not benefit from the physical presence of family members.