Lainie's Angels Announces Partnership with Children's Memorial Hospital
Lainie's Angels is pleased to announce that it has entered into a five-year partnership with Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago, as part of the hospital's new palliative care program.
Thanks to a grant from Lainie's Angels, Children's Memorial Hospital will expand its ParentWISE® (Parent Wisdom In Shared Experience) family support program into its palliative care program. The interdisciplinary palliative care team will include a ParentWISE® coordinator who will recruit and train volunteers, each one a parent who has shared the experience of having a child in palliative care. This program provides unique support to families in this most stressful time by offering advice, counseling, and comfort to the families of children suffering from cancer and other terminal illnesses.
As one of the nation's leading children's hospitals and research centers, Children's Memorial serves more than 94,000 children every year, many of whom have rare and complex medical conditions. The pediatric palliative care program will be the first of its kind in the Chicago area, and will perform a key function – providing comprehensive and compassionate end-of-life care that fulfills the emotional needs of both terminally ill children and their families. "This is going to be a parent-driven organization," said Morris Kletzel, MD, Division Head of the Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Program and member of the palliative care program planning team. "We've worked hard to ensure that parents will be active participants, helping physicians, nurses, and staff understand and meet the needs of families whose children, unfortunately, may not have long to live."
Lainie's Angels founder Stathi Afendoulis called the partnership "a great victory in our ongoing mission to provide assistance to families that are facing one of life's most difficult ordeals. Alliances with world-class organizations like Children's Memorial are an essential part of our long-term strategy – extending the reach of Lainie's Angels to provide support to families across the nation."
