New Website
In keeping pace with the way people interact with and donate to their favorite causes, The Valerie Fund launched a new website in November. Many hours of preparation were dedicated to making navigation easier for the new and returning donors and for accessing resources available to Valerie Fund patients and their families. The new Valerie Fund homepage promotes all the good work our organization does and includes links to download applications for Camp Happy Times and The Valerie Fund Scholarships.
The Valerie Fund website's new homepage
In 2017, The Valerie Fund gave out $381,000 to 90 students who have been treated at one of the seven Valerie Fund Children's Centers and are currently pursuing their post-secondary school dreams. Scholarship applications are currently being accepted and the 2018 application can be downloaded via: https://www.thevaleriefund.org/what-we-do/tvf-scholarship/. With the help of our Educational Liaison team, The Valerie Fund has included additional scholarship resources: https://www.thevaleriefund.org/what-we-do/tvf-scholarship/other-scholarships/.
Educational Liaisons
The Valerie Fund has expanded the Educational Liaison services to five out of the seven Valerie Fund Children's Centers at this time. In May 2017, some of the liaisons were able to attend the annual joint conference of APHOES (Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Educational Specialists) and AECMN (Association for the Education of Children with Medical Needs). At this workshop, our liaisons were able to learn about how children in the United States and Canada are able to stay connected to school when they are unable to attend for periods of time.
From left: Valerie Fund Education Liaisons, Joann Spera, Caitlin McCaffrey, Kaitlin Murtagh, and Suzanne Goldberg at the APHOES and AECMN joint conference.
NewYork-Presbyterian's Educational Liaison, Caitlin McCaffrey, took on the New York City Department of Education this past April to help a Valerie Fund patient attend school virtually. Rasheed, who is treated at The Valerie Fund Children's Center at NewYork-Presbyterian, is able to attend school using a robot while he recovers at home from a bone marrow transplant. The robot is called a VGo and allows Rasheed to communicate in real time with his teachers and classmates, eat lunch with his friends and maneuver through the hallways of his middle school, all from his computer.
Educational Liaisons are there to support and guide patients as they transition back to school after long periods of time. The goal is to ensure the children do not feel isolated and to create a learning environment that allows them to feel confident and thrive when re-entering their classroom.
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 state-of-the-art medical care. Today, more than 6,000 children with cancer and blood disorders benefit immeasurably by receiving their medical treatment close to home in a child-centered environment. The Valerie Fund ensures they do not have to rely on insurance reimbursements to receive a range of customized therapeutic services that enhance their quality of life. For more information, please visit www.thevaleriefund.org.
