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More Information on Josh and Friends
Children’s Miracle Network and Veterinarians
Kids and pets naturally go together. That's why the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association Foundation have chosen to partner with the Children's Miracle Network (CMN), a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals across North America. Each year, the 170 Children's Miracle Network hospitals provide the finest medical care, life-saving research and preventative education to help 17 million kids overcome every disease and illness imaginable.
In Georgia there are six CMH hospitals around the state:
To find out more about these outstanding hospitals, visit www.cmn.org.
About Josh
As a result of a personal experience, Tennessee veterinarian Randy Lange found out how difficult it was to comfort a child who was distressed over an impending hospital visit. He was frustrated by the lack of material written on a child's level that was available to help his daughter, Jessica, understand what would happen when she was in the hospital.
Jessica fully recovered from her surgery at the Children's Miracle Network hospital, but Dr. Lange developed an abiding concern for the children he saw in the hospital. While visiting Jessica in the hospital he noticed many rooms where a child was alone. When queried, the nurses said they were “drop-off children." Often coming from a single parent family, these children are dropped off at the hospital because the parent(s) are unable to stay with the child due to other children at home or work responsibilities.
His concern for his daughter and the children he saw led him to write a book, titled I'll Be OK, which features his family's golden retriever, Josh, as the star and narrator of the book. The book chronicles Josh’s journey through a veterinary hospital, mirroring many of the procedures and events a child might encounter in a human hospital. The upbeat message of the book and the child-friendly explanations of potentially scary situations ensure that both Josh and the child will indeed be OK.
Dr. Lange also created a plush version of Josh as a huggable companion to the book. Numerous studies have shown the therapeutic benefits of a soft stuffed animal and children facing a hospital stay definitely agree. The plush puppy is perfectly balanced to perch on a child’s shoulder or to be cuddled under their chin while resting.
Presented together in Josh's custom doghouse, the book and the comforting plush puppy have become the perfect vehicle for delivering the human-animal bond message. One approach is to have the Josh kit given to a child during their orientation visit to the hospital. This gives the parent(s) time to read the book to the child and for the child to begin deriving comfort from their special friend, Josh. When the child returns to the hospital for their actual treatment, Josh stays with the child, even after the parent(s) must leave. Josh is given an identification bracelet at the same time the child, and continues to participate in as many procedures, like going through the x-ray machine, as possible. Most hospitals will allow Josh to be with the child immediately before anesthesia and after surgery. To the child it seems that Josh has been with them the entire time. Imagine the amount of comfort this brings to a child! We hope you will join this wonderful program. Please visit www.joshandfriends.com for more information. |