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Belleville, NJ—The Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation NY*NJ*CT will support child life programs and seriously ill pediatric patients at Clara Maass Medical Center through the Foundation’s Pediatric Hospital Support Program. Through this program, Starlight has supported 61 tri-state area hospitals this year, providing an estimated value of programs totaling more than $1.7 million.
“Starlight’s mission is to help seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education, and family activities,” said Elaine Siver, executive director of Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation of NY*NJ*CT. “This program is designed to aid children services in hospitals such as Clara Maass Medical Center. We are confident it will help restore some of the happiness that a serious illness takes away and make a child’s experience more pleasant and when possible, more fun.”
Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation has allowed Clara Maass Medical Center to build a Child Life Program by providing funds to help underwrite training, equipment, materials, supplies and – most importantly – a part-time child life specialist. The child life specialist focuses principally on the Emergency Department, where she helps to mitigate the anxiety and fear not only of young patients, but also their siblings and the children of adult ER patients.
“More than any other individual or entity, Starlight Starbright has enabled us to bring a Child Life Program to Clara Maass Medical Center,” said Jane Newman Kessler, CFRE, vice president of Development, Clara Maass Medical Center Foundation.
Over the past 12 years, Starlight’s pediatric hospital support program has supported 84 hospitals in the tri-state area with an estimated project value of more than $7.6 million. The programs supported by Starlight have brightened the lives of more than one million hospitalized children. In general, the program supports projects that will continue to have an impact on children beyond the initial year of implementation and strives to make a child’s hospital experience more pleasant.
In addition to receiving monetary funds from the Pediatric Hospital Support Program, Starlight is also placing a brand new Nintendo Wii Fun Center in Clara Maass Medical Center. Fun Centers are interactive entertainment units that include a Sharp Aquos flat-panel screen, a DVD player and the newly anticipated Nintendo Wii System. These portable units can roll anywhere in the hospital, including right up to child’s bedside.
For more than two decades, Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation has dedicated itself to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Starlight Starbright’s programs have been proven to distract children from their pain, help them better understand and manage their illnesses, and connect families facing similar challenges so that no one feels alone. Serving more than 180,000 children each month, Starlight Starbright’s array of outpatient, hospital-based and Web offerings provide ongoing support for children and families — before, during and after medical treatment. To learn more visit www.starlight.org.
Clara Maass Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, provides a complete continuum of care to residents of northern New Jersey. Clara Maass Centers of medical excellence include the Women’s Health Center, Nuclear Medicine, the Cancer Center at Clara Maass, Diagnostic Cardiac Services including Cardiac Catheterization, Emergency Angioplasty and Rehabilitation, The Pain Management Center, The Orthopedic Spine & Joint Institute, a Vascular Center, Same Day Surgery, The Clara Maass Wound Center, The Center for Sleep Disorders, Rehabilitation Services, Maternity Services and Parent Education, as well as Pediatrics. For a physician referral or more information about Clara Maass, call 1-888-724-7123 or visit www.barnabashealth.org.
Date: August 1, 2008
CONTACT:
Cathy Toscano
July 10, 2008
(973) 450-2996
ctoscano@barnabashealth.org
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