Nurse practitioner Sunny McDaniel has a story she likes to tell about one of her patients.
He was a little guy, about 6 years, and living on the autism spectrum. Like many kids with autism, he was also nonverbal, so McDaniel knew treating him would require a little special understanding.
Knowing he liked balls, she brought one into the exam room. She then sat on the floor, where he was, and, without saying anything, she quietly began playing with the ball.
“Well, you would think that he didn’t even know I was in the room,” McDaniel said. “That’s misleading. They absolutely know where you're at and are listening. And so I sit there and I just take my time and wait.”
Soon enough, he came over, sat in McDaniels’ lap and began playing with the ball. As he did, she took the opportunity to gently give him a head-to-toe exam.
“Then I glanced over at the mom, and she's crying,” McDaniel said. “I’m like, ‘What's wrong?’ She said, ‘He's never had a full head-to-toe physical exam.’”
“Now, when you think about that, when you think about kids and well-child visits, they start at 0, 2, 4, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 15, 18, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 6 years. And this was his first full exam? That makes you pause and go, ‘We’re not doing our job.’”
McDaniel hopes to change that. In fact, as a member of the St. Tammany Health Foundation Board of Trustees and a vocal advocate of expanding care for patients with autism, she already is.
As of April, which is recognized every year as Autism Acceptance Month, five St. Tammany Health System clinics or departments have earned Certified Autism Center (CAC) designation, with financial support from the foundation. That includes its St. Tammany Pediatrics practice, its Bone and Joint Clinic, the Pediatric Emergency Department and Pediatric Inpatient Unit at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, and the STHS Parenting Center.
That CAC designation means no fewer than 80% of the staff at each of those locations are trained in how to interact sensitively with patients who have autism, ensuring children like the one in McDaniel’s story will be treated by understanding care providers.
“Autism is a medical diagnosis, but we do not treat autism medically,” McDaniel said. “A lot of people misunderstand that. Let’s say I have a kid that has anxiety and is autistic, I’m treating anxiety. If I have a kid that’s autistic and has a cold, I’m treating the cold. I’m never treating autism.”
To aid in that, one of the newest autism initiatives undertaken by St. Tammany Health Foundation involves supplying patients who have autism with a bag of aids designed to make their visit easier by blunting any overstimulation they might be feeling. Paid for with donations, these “sensory bags” contain such things as noise-cancelling headphones, visual aids, a whiteboard, a fidget toy and similar items.
Additionally, McDaniel arranged for a series of videos designed to help patients with autism to watch before visiting their doctor so they’ll know what to expect. They can be found at StTammany.health/AutismSupport.
“We’ve got to do it better,” she added. “So, what we’re trying to do that makes St. Tammany a little unique is, we're bringing both perspectives. We’re giving our patients help to be able to come to the table and feel prepared, and we’re also preparing the medical community to be able to take care of them when they are there.”
Visit STHfoundation.org/Autism or scan the QR code to learn how you can support the foundation’s autism efforts.