Support Services
There are many support services that may be helpful during your child’s admission. If you are interested in any of these services, ask your nurse or doctor for more information.
Breastfeeding Support
If you are breastfeeding, we have International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants available to provide breastfeeding support in the hospital. We also have breast pumps available. Please contact your nurse for assistance.
Child Life Specialists
UCLA Health Child Life Specialists work with you, doctors and other members of the health care team to develop an age-appropriate plan of care for your child. Child Life Specialists use different methods to make sure that your child’s social, emotional and developmental needs are being met. Child Life Specialists help to empower children with knowledge and equip them with coping strategies so that they may face potential stressors with confidence.
Services provided by Child Life Specialists include:
- Developmentally appropriate preparation and support for surgery and medical procedures
- Identifying individual coping strategies for medical procedures and hospital admissions
- Comfort positioning and relaxation activities
- Supervision of The Zone activity space
- Pre-procedural tours of the hospital for children and their families before their stay
- Sibling support
- Access to gaming resources and bedside activities
- Special events specifically for hospitalized children and their families
Community volunteers also help create special events, arts and crafts or other projects. They are available to play a video game, read a story or simply sit at a child’s bedside to provide comfort and companionship. To learn more, visit or call .
Child Pain & Palliative Care Program
The UCLA Pain & Palliative Care Program is a special service designed to reduce pain and suffering and increase well-being in children with serious or life-threatening illnesses. This team includes a physician pediatric palliative care specialist, pediatric nurse practitioner, social worker and chaplain. This service can be requested by your child’s primary doctor. The Pain & Palliative Care team provides treatments and resources to help reduce pain, nausea, anxiety and other discomforts due to serious illness, as well as to help with communication between you and your child’s medical teams if needed. The team can also help with treatment decisions when needed and integrates mind-body care into all aspects of its consultations. To learn more, visit the UCLA Health Pediatric Pain & Palliative Care Program webpage.
Family Resource Room
Our family resource room is a place where you can network with other parents with similar challenges, participate in support groups or take part in educational or creative arts seminars. A volunteer librarian is available to share information on child development, medical conditions and community resources. The family resource room is located on the fifth floor, room 5236B, and has flexible hours. Services provided in the family resource room include:
- Use of computer
- Printing, faxing and copying
- Watching television
- Quiet time
- Educational and recreational activities
- Light refreshments for families of a hospitalized child
- Knitting classes
- Scrapbooking classes
Food Services
Patients receive meals and snacks delivered to their rooms. Please talk to your doctor or dietitian if your child has any medical or religious dietary restrictions.
To order food at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, call from your cell phone or 79218 from a hospital phone.
To order food at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, call from your cell phone or 96600 from a hospital phone.
For family and visitors, the Dining Commons on the first floor at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Café Santa Monica on the ground floor of the North Wing at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center offer a variety of hot meals, prepared foods, snacks and beverages. For more information about dining at Ronald Reagan, visit uclahealth.org/hospitals/reagan/patients-visitors/dining-commons. For more information about dining at Santa Monica, visit uclahealth.org/hospitals/santa-monica/patients-visitors/cafeteria.
Please speak with your child’s social worker if you are struggling with food access while admitted to the hospital.
Food Storage
There is limited space for storing food from home in the acute-care pediatric units (3F/5W) and the PICU/PCTICU. The NICU does not have a refrigerator or freezer available to store food.
If you would like to store a small amount of food, please wrap or seal the food and give it to a staff member to label and put in the unit’s refrigerator. For health and safety reasons, food left in the refrigerator for more than 72 hours will be discarded.
Your child’s food can be heated and served under the supervision of unit personnel. Food may not be reheated more than once. If your child is on isolation, we will not be able to take the food out of the room. Please remember that your child may be on a special diet, so check with his or her nurse before giving your child any food you bring from home.
Mini fridges may be available for your child’s room. Ask your nurse if you need a mini fridge.
Heart Touch Project
The purpose of the Heart Touch Project is to provide gentle touch and massage services to children hospitalized at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center who meet medical criteria and who want this treatment. Providing regular compassionate touch to hospitalized infants, children, adolescents and young adults can provide many benefits. To learn more, talk to your nurse.
Hygiene Supplies
Basic hygiene supplies are available, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, combs, lotion and razors. Please ask your nurse if you need any of these items.
Language Services
You have the right to an interpreter during every interaction with UCLA Health staff, at no cost to you. This service is provided by in-person interpreters, video conferences or by telephone. Each hospital room has an iPad with access at any time to a video or phone interpreter. To access an interpreter from your personal device, call .
Mindfulness & Meditation
Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the present moment. This practice has been shown to reduce stress, boost the immune system and promote a general sense of health and well-being. UCLA Health offers virtual mindfulness and meditation services.
Music therapy
Music therapists help children feel better by allowing them to creatively express their feelings and ideas. Your child doesn’t have to sing or play an instrument to see a music therapist. They can sing or play familiar songs, record music or relax and listen to music. This service has limited availability. Ask your nurse or a child life specialist if you’re interested in learning more.
NICU Support Groups and Classes
The NICU family group meets twice weekly at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to provide information, resources and support from team members (lactation consultants, discharge planners, chaplains and others) and families of former NICU patients. Refreshments are provided. The NICU also offers a Baby Basics class. This monthly class focuses on basic baby care and information about transitioning from the hospital to home. Please ask your nurse for more information.
Parking Services
For information about where to park when visiting the hospital, visit
Paula’s PetPal Place
Paula’s PetPal Place is a service that allows children to reunite with their pets during their stay at UCLA Health. To learn more, call .
People-Animal Connection (PAC)
Volunteer-dog teams offer companionship and warmth to you and your child. People-Animal Connection may help with physical and emotional healing by providing positive bonding dogs to individuals of all ages and backgrounds. These teams of dogs with a human parent meet UCLA Health’s strict criteria and successfully complete a behavior exam before they can come to the bedside for visits. If you feel your child would benefit from this service, please tell your bedside nurse. Visit uclahealth.org/pac to learn more.
Psychology/Psychiatry Services
Psychologists and psychiatrists become involved in the care of your child when requested by your child’s primary medical team. Because hospitalization can be very stressful for any child, these consultants treat many emotional and developmental concerns that can complicate medical care and recovery. Consultants may also teach coping techniques to children struggling with serious illnesses, teach parenting strategies and provide medication recommendations for symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety or depression.
School Instruction
Our on-site teacher offers individualized instruction for patients during hospitalizations of any duration. Please reach out to your child’s social worker or certified child life specialist to arrange for your child to receive schooling according to his or her individual needs.
Spiritual Care
Interfaith chaplains are members of the health care team and are available to visit children and families of all faith traditions, to pray if desired, to share in faith questions, to bring scriptures or holy writings from a specific faith tradition and to help meet specific faith needs, such as communion, baptism, anointing of the sick and reconciliation. The Interfaith Meditation Room is open to all patients and visitors 24 hours daily in Room 1109 on the first floor of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center by the main entrance. If you would like a visit from the interfaith chaplain on your unit, tell your nurse or call , or visit the Spiritual Care webpage.
The Tiverton Hotel
If you need a place to stay, The Tiverton Hotel has 100 rooms and is designed to meet the needs of UCLA Health families. It includes free breakfast and shuttle service to and from the hospital and UCLA campus. There's also a kitchen, a business area, a gym and a fun room. Talk to your child’s social worker for more information.
Wireless Internet
You can use Wi-Fi all over the hospital. Visit the Information or Concierge desk to get a username and password. We also have chargers available if you need to charge your phone.