PDF - Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center

News from Our Continuum of Care
October 2014
About Us
Dear Friend,
Last month, we dedicated our entire e-newsletter to the celebration of
"Compassion in Action." This month, we couldn't help noticing that same
common thread woven throughout each and every story that we wanted
to share with you.
That's because here at the St. Elizabeth Seton Children's Foundation,
and throughout our entire Continuum of Care, we live by "Compassion in
Action" - day in and day out.
We found "Compassion in Action" ...
... in our staff's caring, enthusiastic and creative preparations for
Halloween throughout October - all to ensure that our children at the
Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center and the Yonkers campus of the John A.
Coleman School would have a fun and memorable Halloween.
... in the much-appreciated generosity and support of our long-time
friends Northwestern Mutual - Westchester, Starlight Children's
Foundation and the Ursuline School.
Inspired by the legacy of St.
Elizabeth Seton, the St. Elizabeth
Seton Children's Foundation provides
philanthropic support to enhance the
medical, therapeutic, rehabilitative
and special education goals of
medically complex children served by
the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center,
the John A. Coleman School and the
Children's Rehabilitation Center. The
Foundation reaches children across
this continuum of residential and
community based services,
celebrating the uniqueness of each
child
Donate Now
To give to the St. Elizabeth
Seton Children's Foundation,
please visit us online at:
setonpediatric.org
... in the dedication of our staff - both from those who have worked with
us for years and those who have recently joined our team - who deliver
the loving and kind care each and every day to make our children's lives
better.
... in the support shown by the community of St. Elizabeth Seton
Children's Foundation supporters who came together to raise over
$60,000 for our children during last month's Fall Festival - the largest
amount we have ever raised at a fundraising event.
We hope that you, too, will want to be a part of "Compassion in Action."
As always, we ask that if our message touches you that you would please
consider forwarding this e-mail using the link at the bottom so that those
closest to you can also share in our mission.
See you next month.
Sincerely,
The St. Elizabeth Seton Children's Foundation
Donor of the Month
This month, we are very excited to
announce that we have not one, but
two, "Donors of the Month!" Our
supporters at Northwestern Mutual Westchester generously sponsored
three Starlight(R) Tablets from our
long-time friends at Starlight Children's
Foundation, that will provide critical
therapy and much needed support to
the residents of the Elizabeth Seton
Pediatric Center and their families.
Celebrating 25 years of specialized medical care delivered with dignity and
compassion
Halloween is one of our favorite reasons to celebrate here at the
Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center!
And for us, it's not just one day ...
Staff members from the Pediatric
Center and the Yonkers campus of the
John A. Coleman School begin
The vast majority of children who
planning for the festivities more than
reside at the Pediatric Center have
a month in advance! They create
severe communication issues and
spooky decorations to line our
physical impairments and rely upon
adaptive equipment and technologies hallways, develop festive activities for
to help them communicate and express our residents to take part in and even
themselves. The Starlight Tablets that operate a "costume shop" with
hundreds of costumes to choose from
we received help them do just that.
for our children and their caregivers to
"With its array of available programs select their perfect Halloween getup!
and functions geared toward all
This year, our residents continued the
developmental levels, the Starlight
Tablets open up limitless opportunities tradition of parading around the
for our residents who rely heavily on outside of our 165,000-square-footothers for all daily tasks," said Vanessa complex in their Halloween best. Their
Andrews, Clinical Lead for Child Life at caregivers and family members also
came and showed off their Halloween
the Pediatric Center. "With these
Tablets, an art therapist can create art costumes, too!
with a child who cannot hold a crayon,
a speech therapist can teach a non- Take a look!
verbal child to communicate by pushing
a button, a Child Life specialist can
prepare a child for an MRI by playing a
recording of the sounds the machine
makes and a music therapist can help a
child express themselves when they
otherwise could not hold an
instrument," Vanessa continued.
We think Physical
Therapy Clinical Lead Dana and
Scarlin are total rock stars!!
"The possibilities for education,
independence, growth and coping are
truly endless," she said.
"We serve a very unique population of
medically complex children," said Brian
Harrington, Senior Vice President of
Institutional Advancement. "We are so
grateful that we have people like Rob
Seery, Brendan Meyer and Nicholas
Junta from Northwestern Mutual Westchester, as well as our friends
Stephanie led the parade with her Halloween counterpart Carolyn Ryan,
from Starlight, who understand this
our Director of Quality Improvement
about our residents and who work to
better their lives and help them reach
You can check out more of our Halloween Parade photos on our Facebook
their full potential."
page here.
Many thanks to Northwestern Mutual Westchester and Starlight Children's
Foundation!
You can also watch Fox 5's coverage of our special morning below:
Clockwise from l-r: Brendan Meyer, Robert
Seery and Nicholas Junta from
Northwestern Mutual - Westchester with
Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center resident,
Natalia, and one of our new Starlight
Tablets
Ursuline's "Make a
Difference Day"
To learn more about the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center,
please visit us online.
Many thanks to the group of senior
girls from the Ursuline School who
spent their "Make a Difference Day"
with the students of the John A.
Coleman School's White Plains
campus on October 15th!
Hannah, Brooke, Alexa, Nora,
Meghan, Allison, Katrina, Arianna,
Felicia, Kristyn and Antonia spent
their morning reading stories to our
children and crafting scarecrow faces
with them! The kids couldn't stop
talking about how much fun they
had!
Thanks again, ladies!
The St. Elizabeth Seton Children's Foundation hosted its 1st
Annual Fall Festival - a major fundraiser - on October 26th at the
John A. Coleman School and the Children's Rehabilitation Center.
This free event was attended by nearly 500 Coleman School students,
Children's Rehabilitation Center patients, their families, our neighbors
and supporters in the community and staff. In addition, Sen. Andrea
Stewart-Cousins (D-N.Y.) and White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach were on
hand, as were the White Plains Fire Department, who provided
homemade chili for all of our attendees.
Story time in Classroom 8!
The Fall Festival featured festive games, food, arts and crafts, live music,
a petting zoo, raffles and much more. In addition, we honored Sr. Carol
A. Barnes, S.C., the Chairperson of the Children's Rehabilitation Center's
Board of Trustees, and also a member of the St. Elizabeth Seton
Children's Foundation Board, the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center Board
and the John A. Coleman School Board, for the nearly three decades of
service that she has dedicated to our children.
The St. Elizabeth
Seton Children's
Foundation
Welcomes
MaryLou Pagano
The St. Elizabeth Seton Children's
Foundation recently announced that
Mrs. MaryLou Pagano joined the
Foundation as its Vice President of
Institutional Advancement, a newly
created role.
MaryLou has nearly 30 years of
fundraising experience and she has
From l-r: Chairperson of the John A. Coleman School Board of Trustees Adrienne
spent her entire career working for not- Arkontaky, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins and President and CEO of the John A.
for-profit organizations with ties to the
Coleman School and Children's Rehabilitation Center Pat Tursi
Catholic community, beginning with her
first job in the development office for
the Archdiocese of New York. Most
recently, MaryLou spent the last six
years as the Director of Alumni
Relations at Iona Preparatory School in
New Rochelle, N.Y.
It was her experience working at St.
Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers,
however, that first introduced MaryLou
to the health care industry - a
connection that would later prove to be
a motivating factor for her move to join
the team at the Foundation.
As a sponsored organization of the
Sisters of Charity of New York, St.
Joseph's was a clear fit for MaryLou.
"The mission of the Sisters - to help
those who are marginalized and those
who need assistance the most - is
something that really speaks to me,"
she said.
"I'm excited to share the amazing
things that go on within these four
organizations," MaryLou continued.
"Each child here has a story and each
child needs help. It's my job to make
sure that the community knows about
these very special children so that they
can continue to receive the critical
services that they so desperately
need."
Fall Festival honoree Sr. Carol A. Barnes, S.C. (second from left) along with (l-r)
Sr. Elizabeth Butler, S.C., Sr. Miriam Kevin Phillips, S.C. and Sr. Mary Kay
Finneran, S.C.
In total, the event raised more than $60,000, which will be used to help
the thousands of children with complex medical, educational and
rehabilitative needs that our Continuum of Care serves each year.
"This year's Fall Festival has been our most successful fall event to date,"
said Brian Harrington, Senior Vice President of Institutional
Advancement. "This event was instrumental in raising the funds
necessary to continue to support our children and enhance their lives
with extraordinary programs and activities that are not covered by the
cost of tuition or certain health care programs," he said.
MaryLou Pagano
Celebrating Staff at
the Elizabeth Seton
Pediatric Center
This October, we celebrated National
Health Care Food Services Week,
National Health Care Security &
Safety Week and National Health
Care Facilities & Engineering Week!
We are so grateful for the
commitment and dedication that
these employees show to our
children, their families and their
colleagues every day.
Thank you for all that you do!
Lyla poses at the St. Elizabeth Seton Children's Foundation's first ever Fall Festival
This event would not have been possible without the support of our
generous partners. We'd like to thank the Greenburgh Police Benevolent
Association; our Gold Sponsor Alice Sim; our Silver Sponsors: Waldorf
Risk Solutions, Lucretia and Edward Mann, J-K Prosthetics & Orthotics,
Opus Advisory Group, LLC and Joseph and Rita Mondolfi and Sophia Pici;
and our Activity Sponsors: Scully Construction, LLC, the Oswald Family,
Cuddy Law Firm, PC, O'Connor Davies, LLP, Pinnacle Associates, Empress
Ambulance Services, Inc., Stop & Shop, Hudson Valley Bank, HBO,
Bettina Equities Management, LLC, Clean Rite Industries, Whole Foods
White Plains, Mr. Kold Kuts, the White Plains Fire Department, the Bristal
Assisted Living at White Plains, St. John's Riverside Hospital and Get
Down Entertainment. We'd also like to acknowledge the O'Rourke Irish
Dancers and the Candlelight Inn for their contributions.
Check out photos from our Fall Festival on Facebook here.
Members of our Nutrition & Dining
Services department
Members of our Neighborhood Watch
department
Deputy Fire Chief Rich Houlihan (far left), along with members of the White Plains
Fire Department, serving up bowls of their homemade chili to Fall Festival
attendees
To learn more about the John A. Coleman School,
please visit us online.
Members of our Facilities & Engineering
department
To learn more about the Children's Rehabilitation Center,
please visit us online.
Stay Connected with
the St. Elizabeth
Seton Children’s
Foundation!
Help us "Ride for Our Children" on November 15th!
We want you to keep in touch with our
entire Continuum of Care!
To receive our e-newsletter in your
Inbox each month, please send your
name and e-mail address to Sarra
Young, Communications Coordinator,
at [email protected]
You can also follow the Foundation on
Twitter and on YouTube using the
handle:
@SESCFoundation
There will be a 45-minute indoor cycling session to support the St.
Elizabeth Seton Children's Foundation at SoulCycle 83rd on November
15th. Please consider making a donation to help us enhance the quality
of care and enrich the lives of each child we serve!
You can visit our fundraising page here.