The Valerie Fund Blog

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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. 

Topics: Non-profit, social worker, educational liaison, education, Pediatric Cancer, Blood Disorders, Charity, pediatric, cancer, childhood cancer, scholarship, awareness, scholarship program, centers, new jersey, fundraising, nonprofit, website

For the first time in seventeen years, a new Valerie Fund Children's Center has opened at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Paterson, NJ. The Passaic County-based outpatient facility neighbors the northern New Jersey counties of Morris and Essex where several other Valerie Fund Centers are located. 

The Pediatric Hematology/Oncology division at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital was established in 1996, and treats a diverse population of patients. Much like the population treated at The Valerie Fund's Newark Beth Israel Center, English is not the primary language of patients and their families. At St. Joseph's Center, 60% are Spanish speaking and 10% speak Arabic. 

The Valerie Fund immediately enhanced the existing core services at St. Joseph's, their social work and child life programs and hired a psychologist, educational liaison and financial specialist. This team is led by Dr. Jill Menell, Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and Bill Copeck, Nurse Manager.  

Topics: child life, social worker, educational liaison, Pediatric Cancer, Blood Disorders, pediatric, cancer, sickle cell, caregivers, awareness, oncology, centers, new jersey, nonprofit

New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is renowned for its pediatric healthcare services, and is currently home to the only Valerie Fund Children's Center outside the state of New Jersey. According to U.S. News & World Report, New York-Presbyterian consistently makes the magazine's Honor Roll as one of the best hosptials in the nation. The hospital's pediatric hematology-oncology department is led by Dr. Julia Glade-Bender alongside a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, psychologists, educational liaisons, child life specialists and social workers. Dr. Marie Barnett recently joined The Valerie Fund family as the Center's psychologist. 

Topics: child life, social worker, Blood Disorders, pediatric, cancer, childhood cancer, sickle cell, caregivers, awareness, oncology, centers, new jersey, nonprofit

In 1977, Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ, was the first hospital to support Sue and Ed Goldstein in their mission to provide comprehensive health care to children in our area with pediatric cancer and blood disorders. Forty years later, their dream has come to fruition with the expansion of seven Valerie Fund Children's Centers.

In their book, "Where They Are Now: The voices that cancer & blood disorders couldn't silence," Sue and Ed reflect, "The Valerie Fund Children's Centers- in New Jersey, New York City and the Philadelphia area- evolved into what we had hoped for: institutions delivering expert medical expertise, unconditional support and loving kindness for the children under their care."

Topics: child life, social worker, Blood Disorders, pediatric, cancer, childhood cancer, sickle cell, caregivers, awareness, oncology, centers, new jersey, nonprofit

Our next series of blogs will feature each of the seven Valerie Fund Children's Centers located in hospitals throughout the tri-state area. With multidisciplinary teams of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals, these centers focus on the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the 6,000 patients that are treated each year by The Valerie Fund. This care starts at the time of a patient's diagnosis to well after their treatment has ended. 

Topics: child life, social worker, Blood Disorders, pediatric, cancer, childhood cancer, sickle cell, caregivers, awareness, oncology, centers, new jersey, nonprofit

Social workers provide pediatric patients with the emotional support and expertise that comes from those who understand their needs. They can address the very natural and real fears patients face based on the individual child’s personality and where they are developmentally, whether the child is three years old or seventeen years old. Having psychosocial clinicians work through issues with patients and parents increases their level of comfort and compliance in accepting a treatment plan. And that can mean the difference between life and death.

Topics: psychosocial support, social worker