St Marys Foundation for Children

The Foundations primary exempt mission is to fundraise in support of innovative, beneficial and much-needed programs offered by St. Marys Healthcare System for Children, Inc., including but not limited to:Feeding Disorders Program:An estimated 25% of all children have a moderate or severe feeding disorder. Since being formed in 2001, the Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders at St. Marys Hospital for Children has been New Yorks only intensive day patient program specializing in the evaluation and treatment of pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders. The program serves children with a broad spectrum of eating difficulties, such as nutritional deficiencies, dependence on tube feedings, ongoing weight loss or poor weight gain, food refusal and mealtime tantrums. The program utilizes clinicians from different fields to address the clinical, psychological, behavioral and nutritional factors underlying a pediatric feeding disorder. St. Marys interdisciplinary team focuses on treating the whole child, addressing the clinical and behavioral aspects of their feeding disorder and developing a treatment plan to address their specific needs.Many patients in the Feeding Program are admitted to the program relying primarily or solely on feeding tubes. Nearly all of them are discharged with increased feeding and significantly decreased rates of tube feeding. St. Marys patient outcomes often exceed the expectations of parents and referring physicians, as patients are discharged with the ability to tolerate new foods, improve mealtime behaviors, suck from a straw, and chew or swallow more easily.Healing Arts Program:At St. Marys, the arts are essential to promoting health and well-being in children. Research has demonstrated that artistic expression plays a vital role in the most successful approaches to holistic pediatric healthcare. In addition, art therapy can help improve a patients quality of life and promote physical and emotional wellness by reducing stress, alleviating pain, stimulating expression and communication, and promoting physical rehabilitation and learning. On a more fundamental level, making art is a lot of fun for St. Marys patients and a welcome distraction from the less pleasant aspects of medical treatments, rehabilitation, and therapy.St. Marys Hospital for Children, Inc. has developed a robust arts program to ensure that the children and young adults in the facility can experience the healing power of arts while away from home. The daily art therapy activities consist of group sessions, as well as one-on-one sessions tailored to the childrens individual needs. Under the supervision of certified recreational therapists, the children participate in a wide range of artistic activities, including but not limited to: painting; drawing; constructing collages; sculpting with clay; and making music with assistive musical equipment. The benefits of the Arts for Healing Program to the kids at the hospital have been numerous, including but not limited to: increased independence; greater socialization; increased confidence and self-esteem; an improved sense of well-being; and significant advancements in the childrens therapeutic goals. In short, the arts are critical to keeping St. Marys kids active, happy, and engaged every day.Palliative Care:Over 30 years ago, St. Marys Hospital for Children, Inc. pioneered this countrys first Pediatric Palliative Care Program. Offered alongside appropriate therapies, St. Marys palliative care team works with the other professionals and the patients family to develop a plan of care that provides optimum comfort and addresses individual care goals. Additional resources, education and increased staff support are available for both child and family, including religious and spiritual counseling, if requested. Through specially trained volunteers, complementary therapies, assistance with advance directives and treatment choice guidance, the palliative care program promotes a healing and compassionate environment in the midst of loss.St. Marys offers pediatric palliative care at any time in the childs disease progression, not just at the end of life. Using a multidisciplinary, holistic and patient- and family-centered approach, the program provides the services the patient and family needphysical, emotional and spiritual. These services are delivered by an integrated, caring team that includes experienced professionals in medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, rehabilitation, nutrition, chaplaincy, therapeutic activities as well as trained doula volunteers.Telehealth Program:A core belief of St. Marys Healthcare System for Children, Inc. is that home is generally the most ideal setting to provide health care to a sick child. It contributes to the health and well-being of a child to be in their familiar home setting and with their family instead of an institutionalized setting such as an inpatient facility. In the less restrictive home setting, a child with a special need is able to embark on a richer life filled with family support, education, recreation, and long-term rehabilitation and care. As such, St. Marys always strives to safely discharge our patients from our inpatient facility to a home care setting whenever it is possible to do so without compromising their quality of care.A key component of this objective is the Telehealth Program offered by Extraordinary Home Care d/b/a St. Marys Home Care. Utilizing advanced technology, the Telehealth Program provides preventative care to medically fragile children living in home settings, ensuring that the childs health is being maintained outside of a hospital setting. In conjunction with regularly scheduled home visits, our team of pediatric specialists remotely monitors changes in the childs clinical status and medication adherence allowing our team to identify potential health complications and intervene before the problems escalate to ER visits or hospitalizations.Since being formed in 2014, the Telehealth Program has had numerous positive outcomes for children with special needs and their families. Over the course of just one year, it was found that the program resulted in a 39% reduction in hospitalizations (567 total enrolled patients).