Meet Linda Golden

 By Cristy Ecton, Outreach Manager, Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Health

Each September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the international awareness symbol for childhood cancer is the gold ribbon. As someone who has devoted her Tuesdays to the Children’s Health playroom for cancer patients the last 20 years, it seems fitting that her name is Golden. Linda Golden. 

Playrooms are unique to pediatric hospitals. Linda describes how the playroom is respite for patients and their parents. “Just the way their faces relax when they enter,” says Linda. She sees the mothers’ expressions of gratitude as they get to relax because in the playroom, volunteers give complete attention to the patients. Linda reminisces about the playroom before COVID-19. Volunteers separating the patients’ IV poles and offering crowd control among all the tiny tables and chairs filled with kids and crafting materials on every surface. 

All that came to a halt in March 2020 as all the Children’s Health playrooms closed as one of many safety measures during the pandemic. Patients were confined to their hospital rooms and delivered activity bags in place of toys, games, and crafts in the playroom. 

As the world changed and evolved through the pandemic, volunteers were welcomed back to Children’s Health last May. Linda recommitted her Tuesdays to the playroom but with masks and individual patient appointment times.  

Linda and fellow Tuesday playroom volunteer Janet host four patients per day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., each with one hour to play with time in between for the volunteers to sanitize all surfaces before next patient’s arrival.  

“It is so important to get started early,” says Linda, “So I visit the patients’ rooms to find out what they want to do for their hour.” Time is of the essence, so the time spent spacing IV poles and crowd control turned into curating each patient’s visit as it might be the only time that they get to visit playroom with only 20 playroom appointments available per week. 

Linda especially enjoys helping patients with crafts. She says, “Janet & I strive to create ‘keepsake’ crafts with the name and date, if possible.” She uses rolls and rolls of colored duct tape, polished glass and tile, wooden shapes donated by Janet’s brother, fuse beads, and other materials to help create frames, handbags, wallets, mosaic frames, and other kid treasures.  

Linda has volunteered in several ways throughout the community created by childhood cancer such as the Ronald McDonald House, Camp John Marc, and Children’s Cancer Fund. 

Linda began volunteering at the annual CCF gala as a backstage buddy. Over the years Linda has ‘supersized’ the backstage gift boxes that are for the patients who walk the runway.

As long as childhood cancer awareness has the gold ribbon, Children’s Health hopes to have Tuesday Oncology playroom with Linda Golden.