Meet the Content Advisory Board
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Dana LaLonde, CCLS
Dana lives in Lombard, IL with her puppy, husband, and first baby on the way! Dana has eight years of experience working in Inpatient Pediatrics and Pediatric Intensive Care, with children 0-21 with all types of chronic and acute illness. Dana recently entered the non-profit world to develop programming to improve quality of life for pediatric patients in hospitals all over Chicagoland.
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Diane Morales, CCLS
Diane is a Certified Child Life Specialist with over 10 years of experience supporting children and families in medical settings. She is passionate about creating engaging, evidence-based resources that help children understand complex medical experiences and empower caregivers to support them effectively.
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Aileen Maxwell, CCLS
Aileen Maxwell is a Certified Child Life Specialist from the suburbs of Chicago. After she received her Masters Degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with a Child Life Emphasis from Illinois State University, she has primarily worked with the pediatric oncology population as well as children of adult patients for the past ten years.
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Dora Castro-Ahillen, CCLS
Dora has over 25 years of experience working in the healthcare industry ranging from child life specialist, art therapist, child life coordinator, and now child life manager at a community hospital. As manager, Dora has helped grow the child life program within that healthcare system managing a mid-size child life team while also developing and supporting the child life internship program and child life practicum program.
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Gretchen Paladino, CCLS
Gretchen is a Certified Child Life Specialist with four years of experience, holding a Master's degree in Child Development from Erikson Institute. She has worked in both large children's hospitals and smaller suburban facilities across the Chicagoland area. Gretchen's passion lies in creating play-based preparation strategies and adapting stuffed animals to make medical experiences less intimidating for young patients.
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Tori Lindemulder
Tori has over 10 years of experience working with children, 6 of those years spent teaching special education. When her daughter was born with medical needs, Tori became a passionate advocate for her child. Now, she is helping others do the same in both educational and medical settings using her expertise in special education to help create and share information that is accessible and approachable to children and their families.
