Ashley Chavana (left) and Naomi Kass (right) hosting a
shaving cream art experiment through The Wonder Lab.
What drew you to the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF)?
For me and Ashley, my co-partner on this project, we really wanted a way to grow our project. We started out in the Hematology Oncology unit, just before we even knew about ASF, so we already had pretty much a year under our belts at that point. During that time we knew we wanted to expand the Wonder Lab into the dialysis unit, but we were wondering if we could find other ways to get more support for that, not just financial, but more so leadership support, ideas about how to just become better leaders ourselves to really make sure that expansion would be successful and not something that was us overextending ourselves without a clear vision. We knew someone who had done the Fellowship before, a friend of both of ours, and she really, really loved it, she learned a lot from it, and it was really helpful for her project. So, we applied, and we were really happy when we got it. It’s really been helpful for the expansion into the dialysis unit and thinking about ways to do quality improvement. We are just about to submit an IRB for a QI kind of survey project, and we definitely wouldn't have been able to do that without the guidance from our ASF Public Health Mentor. It’s been really educational to go to all the meetings, listen to all these great things the speakers have to say, and I really enjoy these leadership tips. I think it's really helped us; it's definitely challenging to do as a medical student, but I feel like it keeps us super accountable. The Fellowship allows us to have goals and deadlines to meet, so I think it's really been crucial in helping us be successful in growing and expanding on the Wonder Lab this year.
Why did you pick Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) as your project site?
Ashley and I were just hanging out one day and we just kind of came up with this idea. I was like “I kind of want to start something,” because that’s something I liked to do when I was in college and high school. I always would start a club or something, and then I’m able to leave a legacy of some sort and take a leadership role. I hadn’t done this yet in medical school, and we were talking and spit balling the idea of a mobile cart. I had volunteered at TCH all throughout high school, so I actually did the Fun Cart, which was the mobile cart where they had little toys on there, and I would just go up to all the patient floors and walk around to see if they wanted toys or little crafts.
What is the goal of your project?
From my past experience at TCH, I thought these medical students could be kind of role models for these kids as people who are related to medicine, but we’re not part of the scary part they often deal with. We're not people there to give them injections or make them feel sick, so we wanted to infuse some fun into their lives, even if it's for a few minutes. And that’s how we got involved with TCH; TCH obviously is a huge hospital and there are millions of kids that come there every year. With the dialysis unit, there are both inpatient kids receiving acute care and those that come in on a schedule, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Because of this, instead of seeing a lot of new faces, we have a set number of repeat kids we often work with and grow close to them.
How did you approach the project and getting to know the community better?
I know that TCH has a very strong foundation of volunteers from personal experience doing tons of volunteering there. Ashley had volunteered with Kidney Coaches, which is how we knew about the dialysis unit, so she already knew the person who's the project coordinator for that. But she also had a mentor, because she's going into radiation oncology, who is a physician she’d done research with at the Hem-Onc Center. Because of this, she also knew about the Periwinkle Foundation, which is a foundation for kids with cancer, and there is an arts and medicine program on the Hem-Onc floor that's really active. We reached out to the director, Carol Herron, and she immediately loved the idea. We set up multiple meetings with her; at first, we were just going to do crafts, and then we realized that's already covered by what they do, so by meeting with her, we were able to refine what the Wonder Lab was going to be. We’re medical students, and all of our volunteers were going to be medical students, too, so we thought, being in the world of science, that this would be a space that hadn't been filled.
Is there a special story you’d like to share from your project?
We've only been going for five weeks, and we already have volunteers that have been coming back multiple times. I was able to be there one day when the volunteers were having their shift at the dialysis unit; this one volunteer had already been there before, so she remembered all the kids' names and knew all the details about what they talked about. We were able to explain the science concept of shaving cream art to them and they were able to create this really cool thing that they can take home. But then, we just build that relationship with the kids in a more longitudinal way. I think this has been so great working with the Fellowship to be able to expand into the dialysis unit. We now get to see a different side of this, like coming back every week to see the same kids over and over, and they know us really well, we get to know them really well. At the end of it, they also start giving us ideas for experiments like “let’s build robots.” It’s shown that it’s very much a two-way street; we’re there to bring them a bit of joy, but at the same time they bring so much joy into our lives and make us so much better and adaptable. We know we’re not there to save these kids. You can’t come into anything like that thinking you’re some savior.
Three volunteers at The Wonder Lab host an experiment for patients
receiving dialysis treatment.
What’s been a big takeaway or impact on you from this experience so far?
With the dialysis unit, there are some adjustments to experiments we’re having to make. For example, we made lava lamps the first week, but we can’t use glitter because of the health risk. We were really worried it wouldn’t be as special, but the kids still loved it. We still are surprised by the things we’re having to adapt to, but it’s been educational for us to see these things we take for granted that could really impact the health of these kids. The last thing we’d want is for an experiment to get watered down or lose the wow factor, but the kids always get into it, regardless of the experiment. It doesn’t matter what it is, the kids find joy in so many things and are so resilient it’s inspiring. It’s such a privilege to be able to make them happy and give them a break when they’re facing such hard stuff.
I’ve also learned that if you have the goal of having a positive impact on someone, no matter how you’re doing that, if the community truly has the need for it, there will always be people open to that. People are always open to finding a place for you to make an impact because never enough can be done to improve lives. There are so many people that want to be a part of the solution.
About Naomi Kass:
Naomi Kass is a second-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine. She is from Houston, Texas, and studied art history and medical humanities at Rice University. Naomi plans on becoming a neurologist and enjoys being involved in various research activities, with her interests spanning topics such as autoimmune encephalitis and EEG education. Outside her studies, she enjoys watercolor painting, spending time with her dogs, and traveling. As a native Houstonian, Naomi also loves giving back to her community, which is why she is proud to have The Wonder Lab, an organization she co-founded in 2023 with a BCM classmate, be the focus of her work as an ASF Fellow. The Wonder Lab is a mobile cart based in the Hematology/Oncology Center at Texas Children’s Hospital that aims to make science not just educational but also a fun and joyful experience for pediatric cancer patients and their families.
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