Helping Kidd’s Kids
Dallas nurse aids sick children during a dream vacation.

By Patricia Walters-Fischer, RN, BS
February 14, 2005

Debbie Robertson, RN, BSN, is a busy woman. She works full time at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. She’s a single working mother and a volunteer at Camp Sol, a Meridian, Texas, retreat for survivors of deceased children. And yet, Debbie recently had the energy to volunteer her time for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

She was chosen as one of seven medical personnel to accompany Dallas radio personality Kidd Kraddick and his “Morning Crew” on their annual Kidd’s Kids trip to Disney World in November 2004.

The annual Kidd’s Kids event takes 45 chronically ill or terminally ill children and their immediate families on a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Walt Disney World and other family-theme venues in Orlando, Fla. The trip includes hotel, airfare, meals, and a four-park pass that includes admission to The Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios, Epcot, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

For five days, children and their families play, see, laugh, and “just get to be kids,” says Robertson. “They aren’t children with cancer, sickle cell, physical deformities, or paralysis, but simply get to be a child and enjoy the world around them.”

The seven-member medical team, consisting of two RNs, one nurse anesthetist, one respiratory therapist, two child life workers, and a physician, were chosen to accompany the group and attend to the families’ needs 24/7. The members of the team donated their time, but had all travel arrangements paid for.

Despite the upbeat nature of the trip, the task of caring for so many chronically ill people can be daunting. Of the 45 children who went on the trip, 11 were wheelchair-dependent and another dozen were wheelchair-bound. There were children with peritoneal dialysis, a child with a brain tumor, children with severe cerebral palsy, and others with tracheostomies.

“They divided the families up according to severity of illness,” says Robertson. “Each of us had six or seven families we were directly responsible for, but could render aid to any family in need.”

“You could be called anytime, anywhere,” says Robertson. Families’ needs were probably the greatest during the daytime hours when they needed help getting on rides or getting family meals. But many family and medical needs were met by the medical staff at night, as well.

Robertson says there were a variety of families on the trip. “There was a large group that moved together (in the parks), and then there were other families that you only saw at the beginning of the trip, at breakfasts, and at the end of the trip. They were completely self-sufficient.”

To help the families know how to spot a member of the medical team, “each morning the group would gather for breakfast. The families could see us in our daily T-shirts [they all wore certain colored T-shirts on certain days] so they would know what to look for if they needed help.”

While walking around any of the five parks, each of the medical personnel had a radio and communicated with each other.

One of the biggest concerns the medical team seemed to face was dehydration.

Even though it was November, “we had to tell the children to pace themselves because some of them got dehydrated, being out in the sun for too long. It didn’t to them any good to wear themselves out the first day and then not be able to get out any other days.”

Robertson says that she frequently sat with families and talked with them until they were ready to continue their time in the park. She says she met some amazing people.

“One little girl I met was complete sunshine,” says Robertson. “Despite her chronic medical problems, she was a complete joy. She and her mother were such inspiring and wonderful human beings. I’ve made friends for life.”

Every member of the medical staff was up before sunup and many times were in the park until well after sundown. Says Robertson, “The hours were long, but worth it.”

Although the trips last only five days, they give parents, children, and their siblings a much-needed break from the everyday reality of hospitals and treatments.

“I understand the need for families to have good memories with their children and for the child to have good memories and experiences as well,” says Robertson. “With chronically or terminally ill children, good memories can sometimes be few and far between. That’s why what Kidd Kraddick accomplishes through the Kidd’s Kids trip is so vitally important to families and their ill children. Sometimes, memories are all that are left, and parents and remaining siblings need to be able to recall happy and healthy memories of their child or brother/sister.”

After such an amazing experience, Robertson is more adamant than ever about getting more people in the medical field to volunteer their time.

She doesn’t deny that the nursing profession can be draining, even overwhelming. She understands how people feel they have no time for themselves, much less to others.

But she believes that “if you find something that you need or [that] works for you, volunteer just once. You’ll see why you got up at three in the morning on your day off to help someone else. It’s addictive.”

Patricia Walters-Fischer, RN, BS, is a freelance writer