Send Card to Hospitalized Child

SEND A GET WELL SOON CARD TO A HOSPITALIZED CHILD

by Abigail Beal

Get Well Soon Cards help hospitalized children feel less isolated and lonely.

When a seriously ill child remains hospitalized for months, family visits can become less frequent, particularly when the child is transferred to a specialized hospital far from the parents' home. These parents may have other children to care for, and jobs they must keep to maintain medical insurance or to pay uncovered medical bills.

As a result, children requiring long-term care may get most of their human contact during routine – and often impersonal – treatment from doctors and nurses. While these professionals help with the child's physical pain, there is usually little time to deal with the emotional pain of isolation, confusion, and homesickness.

Sending Get Well Soon Cards to hospitalized children is a wonderful way to help cheer them. This contact, and message of caring, can be the highlight of a hospitalized child's day.

Light-hearted, humorous cards are well-received. If laughter is indeed the best medicine, then your Get Well Soon Card can be a big help.

• Find a Recipient:

  There are several organizations who feature eager recipients of Get Well Soon Cards:

  • Hugs and Hope
  • Make a Child Smile
  • Post Pals

  Each of these websites provides helpful guidelines for communicating with children receiving long-term hospital care.

• Carefully Review the Child's Biography:
  • Consider the recipient's physical limitations (e.g., do not send musical cards to a deaf child).
  • Discover interests that you might be able to incorporate into your card (e.g., favorite cartoon characters).
• Select a Card:

  Mindful that some chronically ill children may never recover, your card should aim to cheer-up the child without saying "get well soon" directly. Instead, "Thinking of You" and "Friendship" cards convey the spirit of "get well soon" without raising false hope in children who may never get better.

• Craft Your Message:

  Keep your message light and cheerful. Referring to the child's interests will make him or her feel special. Jokes are always fun for children. There are many appropriate children's jokes on Aha Jokes.

  If you don't want to create your own message, you could follow this sample message to enclose in your card:

  Hello (Child's First Name)!

  I just wanted to say hello from [City and State]. I am wishing you a day full of great big smiles and bright blue skies. I would like to share a Knock Knock joke with you:

  Knock Knock
  Who's there?
  Aardvark!
  Aardvark who?
  Aardvark a hundred miles for one of your smiles!

  I hope you thought this was funny; I sure did!

  Have a super day!
  Sincerely yours,
  [First Name Last Name]

• Send Your Card Via USPS Postal Mail:

  All Get Well Soon Cards must be sent through postal mail (usually to P.O. boxes), since none of the children accept Get Well Soon e-Cards.

Note: Most families will not respond to your Get Well Soon Card. While they appreciate your good wishes, most families are simply too busy to respond. Always include your contact information, however, when sending a Get Well Soon Card, so that the child's family knows from whom the card was sent.