Edmarc

The purpose of Edmarc, Inc. is to provide help to families of children with life-limiting illnesses or life-threatening conditions and to families who have had a child pass away. Our goal is to help keep the family intact during and after the worst crisis a family can endure, the critical illness and death of a child. We work to minimize the long-term ill effects of parental and sibling bereavement. We strive to maximize family involvement in decision making and care planning to the levels and in ways which each individual family finds comfortable; inform and involve children with life-threatening conditions in decisions about their care and care planning as fully as possible, given their developmental abilities and desires; provide culturally responsive care to children and families that is respectful of difference in all its forms; reduce pain and distressful symptoms for children with life- threatening illnesses; provide emotional and spiritual support to children and families as they cope with the multiple losses associated with life- threatening conditions; facilitate the resolution of families' practical needs, such as the need for respite, through cooridination with the community; facilitate continuity of care across care settings, both within and outside the hospital, by providing each family with a designated care coordinator; offer bereavement support to the child and the family before and after death.