People Who Can Help

Child life specialists use play, art, and other creative activities to help children and teens cope with illness and treatment. Child Life works closely with you and the health care team to:

• Explain diagnosis and treatment in simple, honest terms that children and teens can understand and that parents are comfortable with
• Minimize stress and anxiety of children and teens
• Teach patients positive coping techniques
• Support children and teens through medical procedures and hospitalizations
• Work with children on developmental milestones
• Help children and teens gain a sense of mastery, learning, self-expression, family involvement, and peer interaction
• Provide support and education to siblings

Types of play

• Therapeutic play: When patients are not able to express themselves with words, a child life specialist may observe how a patient expresses different emotions. The child life specialist can use play to respond to patients’ needs and reduce the stress caused by the hospital environment.
• Medical play: Medical play gives patients the chance to see or rehearse medical procedures and learn why they are needed. This can help children and teens overcome fears.
• Developmental play: Children should play and be as active as possible so they can achieve key developmental milestones. This type of play also allows children and teens to interact socially with peers who are having similar experiences.

Learn more about Child Life.

Contact

• Phone: 901-595-3020
• Toll-free: 1-866-278-5833, extension 3020
• Email: ChildLife.Info@stjude.org

Clinical dietitians from your child’s primary service (inpatient and outpatient) are part of the patient care team. Dietitians will follow your child throughout treatment to support nutritional status and encourage proper growth and development.

Learn more about Clinical Nutrition. 

Contact

• Phone: 901-595-3318 or ask your child’s nurse to contact your dietitian

St. Jude values cultural differences. Our cultural navigation team helps patients and families from around the world. We work with your care team to give support and guidance as your child adjusts to treatment. Each international patient is assigned a cultural navigator who will help along the way. 

Contact

• Phone: 901-595-3670

St. Jude patients may be seen by the doctor on call outside of regular clinic hours.

On weekends and weekdays after 5 p.m., the Infusion Center operates an after-hours clinic. Please call before coming in to see a doctor.

Contact

• Phone: 901-595-3300 and ask for the doctor on call
• Toll-free: 1-866-278-5833 and ask for the doctor on call

Infusion Center

• Phone: 901-595-2441
• Toll-free: 1-866-278-5833, extension 2441

On weekdays from 7 a.m.–6 p.m., Interpreter Services can help limited-English– speaking families speak with hospital staff.

The Interpreter Services number works 24/7. After hours and on weekends, the operator can also connect you with an interpreter on the phone. The interpreter  speaks your language and can help you communicate with someone who can assist you.

Learn more about translation and interpretation.

Contact

For 24-hour medical interpreting by phone, call: 901-595-2983

• Option 2: Spanish
• Option 3: French
• Option 4: Arabic
• Option 5: Mandarin
• Option 6: Staff Interpreters

People who speak languages not listed should call the operator at 901-595-3300 and ask for an interpreter for the language they speak.

Music therapists at St. Jude meet with your child in groups or 1-on-1 to help them cope with diagnosis and treatment. With their music therapist, your child may listen to music, play instruments, sing, move to music, or write songs. Music therapy can help your child express feelings, make choices, and feel more in control of their treatment.

Learn more about music therapy.

Contact

• Phone: 901-595-3020

When you visit Patient Registration for the first time, a nurse navigator will escort you to Pre-Clinic Assessment. This person will show you how to get around the hospital and the outpatient clinics.

The nurse navigators will also help you find many of the resources you need. Their support includes working with Patient Services to help you obtain food and gas.

Nurse navigators are available Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. They will meet you at your first registration appointment.

Contact

• Phone: 901-595-2010 or ask your clinic staff to contact your nurse navigator

Your child’s doctor may ask the St. Jude Palliative Care (PAL) Team to help with treatment. The PAL Team has special training in:

• Pain and symptom management
• Communication
• Decision-making
• Coordination of care
• Maximizing quality of life

The team can also:

• Support you as you make difficult medical choices
• Help coordinate care with your primary St. Jude team and outside resources
• Help develop a plan of care that fits your goals, values, and beliefs
• Address emotional, social, and spiritual distress related to serious illness

Learn more about the PAL Team.

Contact

If you are interested in PAL Team services, ask your child’s primary clinic staff for a referral.

This staff member generally can help with:

• Complaints about patient care or safety concerns, including formal complaints
• Concerns involving suspected discrimination, including on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, and complaints regarding Title VI or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Concerns involving suspected abuse

Contact

• Hours: 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. 
• Phone: 901-595-8383
• Email: patientrelationscoordinator@stjude.org

Before each outpatient visit, you will check in with a patient representative. This staff member will alert the clinic’s staff that you have arrived.

Patient representatives are in every clinic and at reception desks in most waiting areas. These staff members offer customer service in the outpatient clinics. The patient representative can:

• Print an appointment card (an 8 ½ x 11-inch sheet of paper) for you when you check in
• Print an appointment card that shows your schedule for the next day
• Help you sign up for the St. Jude MyChart online patient portal to access your child’s schedule
• Request any follow-up appointments that your child may need

Learn more about daily routines as an outpatient.

Patient schedulers plan your child’s schedule for every St. Jude visit. You can meet with a scheduler at any time to review the needs for your next visit.

Scheduled appointments may change before you arrive. A scheduler will call if changes mean you will need to come in earlier, stay later, or make special preparations. Let the scheduler know about any special requests. Please call them if you will be late or if you must miss an appointment.

Contact

• Hours:
  • Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
  • Weekends, 7 a.m.–7 p.m.
  • Holidays: 7 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
• Phone: 901-595-6146 or contact them through MyChart

A pharmacist will make sure that your child’s medicines and doses are safe and that you and other caregivers understand how to give them.

Learn more about the Outpatient Pharmacy.

Contact

• Call 901-595-4166 at any time, 7 days a week
• Toll-free: 1-866-820-2442

The Rapid Response Team (RRT) is a team of specially trained staff members. They respond quickly when urgent medical help is needed at the hospital.

If your nurse or doctor is concerned about your child’s current medical condition, they may call the RRT. You may also call the RRT.

The RRT does not take the place of emergency care but can be called when you need help right away, especially to prevent a medical condition from becoming more serious. The RRT will arrive quickly to check on your child (usually within 10 minutes).

Learn more about the Rapid Response Team.

Contact

Phone: 901-595-4444

From any hospital phone: Call extension 4444 and press 1 for emergency as instructed in the automatic voice recording. Ask the operator to call the RRT. Give your child’s name and room number or your current location.

For patients involved in research studies, research participant advocates are people who are not members of the research study team. They can help answer questions about your rights if you or your child choose to take part in a research study. They are available to discuss problems, concerns, and questions.

The advocate can help you get information and can relay any input you may have about the research to the research study team and the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Learn more about clinical research.

Contact

• Phone: 901-258-3849 or 901-355-8242
• Toll-free: 1-866-278-5833, extension 3849 or 8242
• Email: researchparticipantadvocate@stjude.org

When a serious illness affects a child, it also affects the entire family. At St. Jude, our social work team can support you so that you do not have to go through these challenges alone. Your assigned social worker can help with counseling, emotional support, coping strategies, finding community resources, and more.

Learn more about social work.

Contact

• Hours: Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. An on-call social worker is also available after hours for emergencies.
• Phone: 901-595-3670
• Toll-free: 1-866-278-5833, extension 3670

Each treatment team may include doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, social workers, pharmacists, dietitians, child life staff, care coordinators, and other specialists needed for the care of your child.

A doctor is always on call for each team. This doctor can answer your questions at any time—even nights, weekends, and holidays.

Hospitalist: If your child is seen in the Infusion Center, a doctor or advanced practice provider known as a hospitalist might work with your child. A hospitalist may also provide care while your child stays on the inpatient unit.

Learn more about the St. Jude Hospitalist Medicine Program.

Attending physician: If your child is admitted to an inpatient room, the team members caring for your child could change every few weeks. Your child’s attending physician from your primary clinic might not be part of the inpatient team. Even so, that doctor still takes part in planning your child’s treatment through weekly inpatient rounds and team meetings. You can talk to your child’s primary clinic physician by calling your child’s primary clinic.

Care coordinator: A care coordinator is assigned to you when you are accepted to St. Jude. This person communicates with your inpatient, outpatient, and support teams. Care coordinators provide a central point of communication for you. They can help with discharge needs, medical supplies or equipment, getting medical records from other hospitals, hospice care, and home health services.