By C.J. Hirschfield
A 10-year-old boy in foster care
comes out of his shell after completing a program at Fairyland that teaches him
how to be an expert animal caretaker.
A 6-year-old boy, being raised by
his grandmother after his brother was shot, enjoys coming with her to a place
where he can be a kid again.
An elementary school student in East
Oakland wins a Fairyland family pass in a library reading contest, and
regularly takes the bus with her mom to delight in our laid-back reading room
and literacy-rich activities.
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| The 2016 Junior Animal Caretaker group enjoys a visit from the Oakland Zoo's Zoomobile, one of several Fairyland community resources for underserved families. |
An autistic child surprises his
mom by boldly swallowing an edible flower during a horticultural therapy
session in Fairyland’s gardens.
We’ve seen how our low-tech, high-touch
park can have a markedly therapeutic effect on kids and their family members
who have experienced trauma and other challenges.
Which is why we are so pleased
that our newest board member, primary care pediatrician Javay Ross, understands
the role Children’s Fairyland can play in helping families heal and thrive, and
will help us move even further in that direction.
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| Dr. Javay Ross, Fairyland's newest board member. |
We asked Javay, who works at an
Oakland clinic for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (BCHO), to make a
presentation at our last board meeting about the state of pediatric health in Oakland.
She decided the best way to do that would be to draw from her actual experience:
a day in the life in primary care. She chose a few patients from the 12 she saw
during a single day.
Here are a few of them, in her
own words:
