Our Team
All of our Certified Child Life Specialists hold a Masters degree, have at least 5 years of clinical experience prior to working at Hearts Connected, cleared a background check, and are HIPAA compliant.
DD Fritch, MSN, MHA, RN
Founder and President
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Carissa Menard, MS, CCLS
Operations Manager
Alice Shi, MS, CCLS
Child Life Specialist
Dr. Stephanie Walsh
Chief Strategy Officer
Yifan Wang, MA, CCLS, RWWP
Child Life Specialist
Suzan Watkinson, MA, CCLS, CPMT, RWWP
Child Life Specialist
Katelyn Kieleszewski, M.Ed., CCLS
Child Life Specialist
The answer to -
"I wish child
life was here."
What We Do
The Hearts Connected Support Program is meant for organizations and clinics that want to provide child life services or increase pediatric mental health support, but are unable to do so due to budget limitations, staffing shortages, or other barriers. Our program provides an opportunity for institutions to increase mental health support readily available to children and teens at a lower cost!
Virtual programming, available 7 days a week, allows for staff and families to access child life services whenever and wherever needed.
While our hopes are that every healthcare facility has the financial backing for in person child life services to meet the patient demands, we know that often times there are budget constraints. HC Support is a solution that will allow child life services to be available to more patients without the cost of an FTE.
Our virtual services include:
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On-call or pre-scheduled mental health support video sessions
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General inpatient child life coverage (weekends, evenings, or full-time 7 days a week)
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Outpatient procedure and surgery preparation
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Clinic support (diagnosis education, compliance support, procedure or vaccination preparation, and emotional processing)
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Emergency Room coverage (weekends and mornings)
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Parent support and education
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Sibling support and education
