Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

Totally Kids is excited to welcome back our volunteers! Oh how we have missed you! On Friday, May 21st we held our monthly volunteer orientation. During orientation, our Child Development Director provided a tour of the hospital and educated the volunteers on hospital guidelines, how to provide meaningful interactions and much more. The volunteers have been waiting eagerly to return to our program. During the month of May we had 3 returning volunteers and 5 new volunteers added to the program. The Child Development Department is looking for dedicated volunteers that will help our residents thrive. If you’re interested or would like more information please contact Kris Bergsma at [email protected]

We are thrilled to announce our volunteer program will be resuming in May! Volunteers provide a fun learning environment to residents who are medically fragile and technologically dependent. It also provides residents the opportunity to engage in age and developmentally appropriate activities. Other responsibilities and duties include helping our department with safety & infection control procedures, the music & memory program, and preparing our curriculum or lesson plan for the day. Totally Kids accepts volunteers 7 days a week from 8:00-5:00. Please contact Kris Million at (909) 796-6915 EXT 141 or [email protected] for more information.

Totally Kids was excited to offer an Easter Celebration for our residents this year! The residents were able to join in the Easter fun by participating in a petting zoo with adorable baby bunnies, goats, pigs and many more animals. After the petting zoo they participated in an Easter egg hunt with a special appearance from the EASTER BUNNY! It was a great day here at Totally Kids. We loved seeing all the smiles on the kid’s faces throughout the day. We hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Celebrating one of the best Children's authors of all time! Dr. Seuss! He has been part of many childhood memories and we want to honor him by dedicating not one but TWO weeks to him here at Totally Kids. Each day we will be reading one of Dr. Seuss's books and completing special arts and craft projects to go along with the book of the day. The older residents have worked hard to create a poster to help inspire others with some of Dr. Seuss's inspirational quotes. This poster is displayed in the MP room for all to see. We are all looking forward to all the fun activities that have been inspired by Dr. Seuss!

This past Christmas Eve, the residents dressed up in their favorite pajamas, watched a special video from our caroling friend, AJ Rafeal, who has been caroling with Totally Kids for over 10 years! They also opened up their presents while video chatting with family. Christmas Day, found residents and staff having a special holiday meal and families had the opportunity to video chat with their children. While the holidays may have looked different, we hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and Happy New Year. We look forward to 2021!

The Recreation Therapy Department at Totally Kids coordinated with Chick-fil-A to kick off our annual Halloween Harvest Party this year. Chick-fil-A generously donated meals to our hospital staff, as well as patients and parents. We wish to thank Chick-fil-A for their kindness and generosity in making our Halloween Harvest Party so memorable & fun for everyone involved!

Donations are so important for our wonderful kids. NEW NEWS: you can donate online to Kids 4 Ever, Inc. and every dime of the money goes to the kids for enjoyable stuff they need. No administration overhead. We have a generous donor kicking in the credit card fee! If you'd like to donate please click the link below: https://checkout.square.site//6299786078374f4cbe3d685d17dc

On Sunday November 8th, the 30th Annual One More For the Heart" Bike Run was held at Totally Kids. Due to Covid 19 restrictions, the bike run looked a little different this year and was held as a drive-thru only event. Bikers drove around the facility on their motorcycles, dropped off gifts and monetary donations at the drop off tent, and waved to residents as they drove passed the Multi-Purpose Room windows. We truly appreciate our bikers for fundraising throughout the year, continually showing up, rain or shine, and providing for our residents. We are so thankful for your hard work and generosity and can’t wait to see you guys again next year! Thank you Bikers, you rock! Thanks to your generosity over $8,000 has already been raised!!

On October 31st we held our Harvest Celebration. Residents took pictures with our harvest background and participated in activities. Pumpkins were decorated by giving them silly faces and we listened to some cool tunes. We took pictures with our pumpkin creations and photo booth frame. The Harvest Celebration was complete with candy bags!

To our Veterans

Totally Kids is thrilled to invite families to see their loved ones! We know this has been difficulty times with maintaining social distancing and participating in virtual calls. Totally Kids has taking every measure to protect our residents and has worked closely with the CDC to allow families to stay connected. We are now able to offer in person visits by appointments. Visitors are asked to wear gowns, gloves and masks during their visit to help protect their loved one. Families are able to come in and hug their child. This has proven to be an extremely emotional reconnection for our families. After each visit everyone leaves with their hearts full of love! Please call the Child Development Department to make an appointment. As always, permission has been obtained for any photo posted on TK social media.

New blog post alert! Today we're talking about the importance of Developmental Play. Read more: https://totallykids.com//14/importance-of-developmental-p/

Looking for ways to support your at home learner? The folks at Education Week have put together this simple infographic offering parents some easy tips to help support their student during distance learning. #BacktoSchool2020 #remotelearning

Who remembers Pen Pals? In case you don’t know what pen pals are, they are people you write letters to regularly, particularly via postal mail. Some of the residents at Totally Kids are participating in a pen pal program with a few children and teens their age and just received their first letter! How exciting is that? Through this season, finding community is important and this is a great way for our residents to still develop new friendships safely with those in our communi...ty. Not only is it fun, but it helps promote reading and writing skills, patience, encourages perspective- taking, and supports development of social skills like empathy. Who knew such a simple fun activity like writing letters to others can help in so many ways! If you or any other child/teen you know would also like to take part in our pen pal program, please contact the Child Development Department at Totally Kids Rehabilitation hospital! See more

With the new school year starting for many kids online, here are a few great tips to set your child up at home for distance learning.

We want to send a huge thank you to Mr. Kevin Newland. Last week, Mr. Newland generously arranged Alfaro Catering to deliver lunch and dinner to the staff at Totally Kids. <3 <3 The thoughtfulness from members of our community warms our hearts!

Did you know that our Acute Unit incorporate Aromatherapy into the care of patients? Read more about the benefits of aromatherapy on our blog: https://totallykids.com///29/aromatherapy-at-totally-kids/

Last month we celebrated our Superheroes in Scrubs! Read more about it on our blog: https://totallykids.com/news-and-stor//23/our-superheroes/

The weather has been beautiful, and with temperature heating up families will be looking for ways to cool off. Here are a few water safety tips from the YMCA to help keep your family safe this summer!

Wishing everyone happy & safe 4th of July! #tk #totallykids #Happy4th

Summer is officially here! Which means more time out and about in the sun. Make sure to apply your sunscreen, cover up and say yes to sun protection! Thanks to our friends at the American Academy of Dermatology for this detailed infographic!

Who enjoys listening to a live jam session? The residents at Totally Kids certainly do! They have been having such a blast when it comes to music time. From listening to the acoustic guitar and keyboard to singing on a microphone, the residents and staff have been teaming up and using their talents to bring some live entertainment to our kiddos. They explored the instruments. Learning about the different techniques to play the keyboard and guitar, and listening to their voice on the microphone. How cool is that? Looks like Totally Kids should host their own concert for the residents in the near future! Any takers?

Relaxation activities for our infants and toddlers. The residents that are part of our early intervention program have the opportunity to participate in bedside activities, which include relaxation through infant massage as well as sounds of nature. We are able to provide the sounds of nature utilizing our interactive tablets. Sounds of rain or crashing waves have long been used to help people settle in to sleep. This in combination with infant massage is shown to improve sleep, stimulate growth hormone for weight gain in underweight babies, improve overall functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and also help relieve the pain and discomfort of teething is a great combination to provide a relaxing and soothing environment for our younger residents.