Poke Pals supports caregivers, clinical teams, and industry partners in improving pediatric blood collection experiences through preparation, education, and adoption-ready practices.
Blood draws are often the most fear-provoking part of pediatric care — especially for anxious and neurodivergent children. When distress escalates, procedures fail, schedules break down, and children leave with lasting medical anxiety that follows them for years.
Poke Pals addresses the gap between clinical skill and patient readiness. A comfort-first, evidence-informed approach that helps care teams, families, and mobile providers prepare children for blood collection — reducing escalation and protecting first-attempt success without slowing care.
I'm Franchesca Kelly — a pediatric phlebotomist (PBT, ASCP) and Registered Behavior Technician with nine years of frontline clinical experience at the intersection of blood collection and behavioral science. My work is grounded in published research and real clinical practice.
Grounded in published work and real clinical practice.
Published Work & Thought Leadership
Selected articles on pediatric phlebotomy, medical anxiety, and trauma-informed outpatient care.

For families & caregivers
Is your child anxious about blood draws or medical visits? Virtual parent coaching helps children approach procedures with less fear and more predictability.
For clinical teams & organizations
Are anxious pediatric patients escalating or refusing procedures? Poke Pals trains clinical teams to prevent escalation before it starts.

Visual preparation tools designed for children who need to know what's coming before they can feel safe. Each storyboard walks a child through a medical procedure step by step — in language and imagery that reduces surprise and builds trust.
Covering blood draws, dental visits, vaccinations, MRI/CT scans, eye exams, and more. Available in the Poke Pals Etsy shop.

Your hardest pediatric draws don't have to stay hard. If you do mobile phlebotomy, you've had the call — the parent who warns you before you arrive, the child who shuts down the moment you walk in. Most mobile labs have clinical skill and good intentions. Very few have a behavioral framework for what happens before the needle goes in. That's the gap Poke Pals fills.
Phase 1 — Consulting (available now)
Phase 2 — Clinical support (CA CPT pending · SLO County)
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