Pain and Palliative Care Program
In our 50th year, the Valerie Fund is expanding care for children through a new specialized program in pediatric pain and palliative care. The Valerie Fund Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care Program at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ, will dramatically enhance comprehensive, family-centered care for children with complex and serious illnesses. The program will support kids with cancer, blood disorders, and other diagnoses that necessitate a highly specialized team to help these children manage pain and other symptoms, making it a natural fit with The Valerie Fund’s mission.
The Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care Program is a vital service, promoting quality of life, healing and support for children facing chronic, complex or advanced illnesses. The program is the only pediatric palliative care program in New Jersey certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. With more than 75 percent of its consults serving hematology-oncology and stem cell transplant patients—core areas of The Valerie Fund’s mission—this partnership is a natural and powerful alignment.
This program will be funded through the All About the Kids Campaign, with the option for at least an additional 2 years and $1.4 million. This support from The Valerie Fund addresses critical needs driven by a growing patient volume and the complexity of care. By funding several new positions, physicians will have increased time for direct patient care, and patients will benefit from more specialized team members to better address their psychological and emotional needs, as well as those of their family members.
The funding will enable the creation of several new key positions, including:
- A full-time social worker
- A dedicated pediatric pain management psychologist
- A creative arts therapist
- A nurse navigator
- An additional Clinical Nurse Specialist
Together, this team will ensure that children treated through the new Valerie Fund program receive the comprehensive psychosocial support that defines every Valerie Fund Children’s Center—care that sets the gold standard in pediatric hematology and oncology treatment.
