The Best Care for Liberty
By Moné, a Children’s National parent
When we left in the ambulance after my daughter Liberty’s burn accident, I felt like I was in a bad dream. We went straight to Children’s National Hospital. Everyone, starting with the transport staff, treated us so kindly. Her care team answered every question and explained things repeatedly. It took days before I felt like I woke up from the nightmare.
Liberty is a sweet, funny kid who had just started third grade when it happened. She had burns that covered more than half of her body. She spent three months in the hospital — nearly a month in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and more than two months in the surgical care unit at Children’s National. But Liberty has always been a fighter.
So many people at Children’s National took good care of us. Doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, child life specialists and even volunteers made us feel at home. Some of the nurses became known on the unit as “Liberty specialists.” They knew everything about her history, her medications, her bandage changes and how to make her laugh. Care like this made me feel I could leave here and there to take care of myself, my husband, Noah, and Liberty’s younger brother, Enoch. One time I left and came back unexpectedly. I found Liberty in her wagon, relaxing in the nurses' station with them while they worked. They really loved her. She often visited the Family Resource Center to get new books. She loved having therapy dogs visit her room for snuggles, playing bingo on Thursdays, art and music therapies and visiting the Bunny Mellon Healing Garden.
Members of Liberty’s care team are helping to prepare to return to school. When her classmates came to the hospital for a surprise birthday party, a psychologist, child life specialist a a nurse practitioner from her trauma and burn unit team joined with a structured lesson plan. They helped Liberty's school friends understand what she had gone through, and foster empathy.
Liberty is now on her way to a full recovery. For a while, she couldn’t walk, go to the bathroom or take a shower on her own. Every day is a little better. She still visits the hospital for weekly physical therapy and psychology care, as well as twice-weekly occupational therapy sessions. They care for us so well at Children’s National. Everyone there feels like family.
Liberty is a sweet, funny kid who had just started third grade when it happened. She had burns that covered more than half of her body. She spent three months in the hospital — nearly a month in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and more than two months in the surgical care unit at Children’s National. But Liberty has always been a fighter.
So many people at Children’s National took good care of us. Doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, child life specialists and even volunteers made us feel at home. Some of the nurses became known on the unit as “Liberty specialists.” They knew everything about her history, her medications, her bandage changes and how to make her laugh. Care like this made me feel I could leave here and there to take care of myself, my husband, Noah, and Liberty’s younger brother, Enoch. One time I left and came back unexpectedly. I found Liberty in her wagon, relaxing in the nurses' station with them while they worked. They really loved her. She often visited the Family Resource Center to get new books. She loved having therapy dogs visit her room for snuggles, playing bingo on Thursdays, art and music therapies and visiting the Bunny Mellon Healing Garden.
Members of Liberty’s care team are helping to prepare to return to school. When her classmates came to the hospital for a surprise birthday party, a psychologist, child life specialist a a nurse practitioner from her trauma and burn unit team joined with a structured lesson plan. They helped Liberty's school friends understand what she had gone through, and foster empathy.
Liberty is now on her way to a full recovery. For a while, she couldn’t walk, go to the bathroom or take a shower on her own. Every day is a little better. She still visits the hospital for weekly physical therapy and psychology care, as well as twice-weekly occupational therapy sessions. They care for us so well at Children’s National. Everyone there feels like family.
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