The Valerie Fund Welcomes St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Paterson to The Valerie Fund Children's Center Network
MAPLEWOOD, N.J., June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Valerie Fund is proud to announce that a new Valerie Fund Children's Center will open at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Paterson and will join our healthcare network of pediatric centers supporting children with cancer and blood disorders. This new Valerie Fund Center enhances our support of pediatric programs that provide the highest quality of care, close to home, for children fighting cancer and blood disorders in New Jersey, New York City and the Philadelphia metro area. This new center at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Paterson will expand The Valerie Fund's impact into Bergen and Passaic counties and will officially become part of our network on July 1, 2016.
"This new center will now have many of the same programs that The Valerie Fund stands for and makes possible at our other six centers," said Barry Kirschner, Executive Director. "The Valerie Fund believes that psychosocial care is as important as medical care when treating a child with cancer or a blood disorder. With our financial support, St. Joseph's will now have a full time social worker and child-life program in their pediatric hematology/oncology outpatient center, as well as a new educational liaison, psychologist and financial counselor for these same children and their families."
Valerie Fund Board member Abby Goldberg felt St. Joseph's Children's Hospital was an excellent candidate to support the integrity of The Valerie Fund mission. She easily envisioned bringing 500 -1,000 new patients into The Valerie Fund family. She is excited about the new psychosocial positions along with a newly renovated playroom and the purchase of iPads and computers that The Valerie Fund's financial support is making possible. "I am thrilled and honored that St. Joseph's Children's Hospital will be part of The Valerie Fund Family." The Valerie Fund's expansion into Passaic County will benefit hundreds of families with children being treated for oncologic and hematologic diseases. The similarity of philosophies and operations at the St. Joseph's Children's Hospital and at The Valerie Fund Centers means this partnership will organically benefit everyone.
Jill Menell, MD, Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital is looking forward to the collaboration. "We are so excited that our patients will have the benefit of being a part of The Valerie Fund family. We provide excellent medical care for our patients, but the psychosocial piece is equally as important to the well-being of the child and the entire family unit. Many of these services, such as social work and child life, are not reimbursed by insurance. With The Valerie Fund's generosity, we can support our current social work and child life positions and we will add several new staff positions to ensure that the diseases they have and treatments they receive will not limit their success in school and in life."
Bill Copeck, RN, Nurse Manager in the Center for Pediatric Cancers and Blood Disorders is anticipating the power in the partnership that will benefit so many. "It is such a great opportunity for St. Joseph's Children's Hospital to become a part of The Valerie Fund family. Expanding our current psychosocial services to provide more educational assistance, financial guidance and counseling services will be a benefit to our patients and their families. There is so much more to treatment of disease than medicine and nursing; child life and social work also play a very important role in successfully caring for patients. The Valerie Fund's generosity will go a long way toward expanding these services."
About The Valerie Fund
After their nine-year-old daughter Valerie succumbed to cancer in 1976, Sue and Ed Goldstein were determined that no family should have to travel great distances to receive superior medical care. Along with a group of close friends, they began fundraising efforts from their living room---tireless work that would lead to the 1977 opening of New Jersey's first pediatric oncology facility The Valerie Fund Center at Summit's Overlook Hospital.
Forty years later, families still turn to The Valerie Fund because of the unique combination of medical care, counseling, and other services it supports. The Valerie Fund Children's Centers comprise the largest network of healthcare facilities for children with cancer and blood disorders in New Jersey, and one of the largest in the nation. We host over 25,000 patient visits each year.
Today there are seven Valerie Fund Children's Centers for Cancer and Blood Disorders located in major hospitals in New Jersey, New York, and the Philadelphia area providing caring, comprehensive, state-of-the-art outpatient health care to more than 4,000 children and their families each year
For more information, please contact Bunny Flanders, Director of Marketing and Communications at [email protected]
About St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Center for Pediatric Cancers and Blood Disorders
The Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Division was established in September, 1996 and similar to The Valerie Fund, a multi-disciplinary team approach has proven effective in providing patients with state-of-the-art, comprehensive compassionate care. The team works closely with other pediatric disciplines throughout the children's hospital such as pediatric critical care, infectious diseases, cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, pulmonology and others to provide all-inclusive care. Their methods mirror The Valerie Fund model where the entire family is included in the treatment process while addressing the numerous, complex issues that may arise with a life-threatening illness.
The Pediatric Cancers and Blood Disorders Center at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital hosts approximately 5000 outpatient visits each year. On average 20-30 new oncology diagnoses present each year at the hospital. Assorted hematologic cases make up the balance and include 100 sickle cell patients, 15 patients with thalassemia intermedia/major and approximately 100 patients with coagulations and platelet abnormalities. These patients can be treated from birth through adolescence/young adulthood.
For more information about St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, please call 877.757.SJHS (7547) or visit StJosephsHealth.org.
SOURCE The Valerie Fund
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