Open Accessibility Menu
Hide

Guest Services

Ask a Guest Services Representative for Help

Our Guest Services Representatives are here to help you with various services from 8 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. For all questions contact a Guest Services Representative at extension 84444, or stop by the information desk in the Main Concourse.

Patient dining

Meals

Wholesome, nourishing, and well-balanced meals are an important part of your child's treatment and recovery. Manning Family Children's makes every effort to provide nutritious meals that are prepared according to the doctor's orders.

Meal times

Patients are served breakfast between 7:30 and 8 am, lunch between 11:30 am and noon, and dinner between 4:30 and 5 pm. Occasionally your child's meal may be delayed if he/she is scheduled for a special test or treatment.

Menu selection

Your child's breakfast tray will include a menu from which you can order your child's meals for the next day. Please mark the menu so it will be ready for pickup. If you have difficulty making menu selections, your nurse will be happy to help you. If your child is on a special diet prescribed by his or her doctor, you will receive menus tailored to your child's specific needs.

Guest meals

If a parent, family member or friend wants to eat in a patient room they may purchase a meal in the cafeteria and take it back to the room. A guest meal tray can also be delivered to the room at a cost of $5 for breakfast and $7 per meal. Orders and payments are made at Guest Services. Please place your order before 7:15 am for breakfast, 10:15 am for lunch, and before 3:15 pm for dinner. Credit cards are accepted.

Cafeteria

Cafeteria hours:

  • Daily from 6:30 am - 6:30 pm

Serving lines:

  • Breakfast
    7 – 9:30 am
  • Lunch
    11 am - 1:45 pm
  • Dinner
    5 – 6 pm

Vending machines

Vending machines for snacks and beverages are located near cafeteria and are available 24 hours a day. When the cafeteria is closed, please access the vending machines behind the welcome desk in the Main Concourse.

Chaplain Services

Chaplains are available to provide spiritual care and emotional support to patients, families, and team members.

We approach spirituality from an interfaith perspective and serve all cultures and faith traditions.

Our services include:

  • Spiritual care and support during the times of illness, injury, crisis, and loss
  • Rituals such as baptism, communion, blessing, and anointing
  • Assistance contacting clergy or a faith community
  • Bereavement support and counseling
  • Staff consultation and supportive care
  • Resources such as sacred texts, prayer rugs, battery-operated candles, holy water, rosaries, and more.

Holy Communion is distributed by request and every other first and/or second weekend of the month. Please call Spiritual Care at (504) 508-0954 if you would like to see a chaplain.

At other times or in emergency situations ask your nurse, social worker, or team member who will work to locate a chaplain.

Chapel

The chapel is located just off the main concourse area near the Information Desk and the Saxophone/Trombone elevators. Visitors of all faiths are welcome to visit the chapel for prayer and meditation. Services are held on Sundays at 10 am. Holy Communion is distributed by request. Please call Pastoral Care at extension 84546 if you would like to see a chaplain or to receive Holy Communion, during the hours of 8 am to 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday. At other times or in emergency situations, please notify your nurse who will work to locate a chaplain.

Child-sitting service

A child-sitting service, staffed by hospital volunteers, is available at Manning Family Children's for inpatients. Sitters may be scheduled by calling Guest Services at extension 84444.

This service is available to allow parents to leave the room to take a break, to go home for a while, to have a quiet meal outside of the room, etc. Please limit the time away to two hours so that this service may be provided to all who make a request.

Volunteers are available Monday - Friday from 8:30 am until 8:30 pm, and may be scheduled in advance for weekends. Requests for sitters should be received one day in advance. Volunteer sitters are limited, and requests will be filled in the order they are received.

Interpreter services

At Manning Family Children’s, we want to ensure that our culturally and linguistically diverse patients/families can communicate effectively with the medical staff and team members.

Manning Family Children’s provides interpreter services for all patients and families who speak a language other than English or who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Language access services are free and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Interpreter services are provided through a combination of video remote and phone interpretation and in person interpreters. Manning Family Children’s uses certified medical interpreters. They have the technical knowledge to interpret your questions and comments, as well as the medical information provided by your child’s healthcare team.

Auxiliary aids and services are communication services and tools that can be requested by or for patients and families who are deaf or hard of hearing. Please see your child’s nurse for more information.

How to request Language and Communication Services

Your child’s healthcare team may request an interpreter to make sure of the following:

  • They understand what you and your child say.
  • They answer all your questions clearly.
  • They explain your child’s condition and treatment in a way you understand.

If you need assistance with attaining interpreter services you can:

  • Notify your nurse or physician
  • Call Language Access Services Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm at (504) 896-9451.

How to make calls using an interpreter

  • If you would like to have an interpreter on the line before you place a call to Manning Family Children’s, please dial (855) 560-3286 and follow the menu prompt in your preferred language.
  • You will be connected directly to an interpreter for your selected language and will stay on the line to interrupt during the call duration. Provide as much information as possible to assist you.

Please let our Manning Family Children’s team know what resources you and your family may need before your child’s visit.

Mail

Letters and packages for patients are delivered to patient rooms each day, and any that arrive after your child has been discharged are forwarded to your home. Stamps and cards may be purchased in the Gift Shop, located in the main lobby. There is a mail box just outside the hospital's main entrance for outgoing mail.

Newspapers

The Times Picayune may be purchased just outside the main entrance to the hospital. Daily papers are $.50 and Sunday papers are $1.50. USA Today is also sold for $.75.

Transportation

Manning Family Children's does not provide transportation. However, there are taxi services available: