Imagine you had to choose between helping teens survive cancer, reducing infant mortality or sparing children the need for open-heart surgery. If you'd have difficulty deciding, you'd be in good company.
Seattle Children’s Hospital Guild Association trustees faced that decision when selecting our next Funding Focus. Since 2000, the annual Funding Focus has raised millions of dollars for needs such as facilities or research. A small portion of the money guilds raise for uncompensated care goes to the Funding Focus. In addition, activities such as Raise the Paddle can be dedicated 100% to this purpose.
When Laurie Taylor, guild association trustee, and Aileen Kelly, the association's executive director, met with Dr. Bruder Stapleton, Seattle Children’s chief academic officer, to discuss the Funding Focus, the list of possibilities quickly narrowed to three: teen cancer care, prematurity research or cardiac care. In the end, rather than choose just one, trustees made the unprecedented decision to support all three, and for three years instead of one. "We were inspired by work being done in each area," says Taylor, who led the selection effort. Guilds will raise $500,000 per year for each area through fiscal 2011, totaling $1.5 million for each.
Teen Cancer Care
Research shows that if teens with cancers, such as leukemia and sarcomas, are treated at pediatric institutions, long-term survival is 25% higher than if they are treated at medical institutions that primarily serve adults. Children’s is a leader in treating teens with cancer, and its cancer program was ranked No. 5 in 2008 by U.S. News & World Report. Guilds will support numerous initiatives focused on helping teen cancer patients, such as improving facilities, expanding support services, hiring more staff, initiating community education programs and advancing clinical research.
Learn more about Teen Cancer Care at Seattle Children’s
Prematurity and Stillbirth Prevention
More than 1 million babies around the world die every year because they are born too early. More than 3 million are stillborn. Prematurity is the leading cause of infant mortality, and children born prematurely who survive often suffer serious health problems. Recognizing an urgent need, Seattle Children’s launched the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS) in 2007. Guild funding will support work to develop a repository of data and specimens that will facilitate research into the causes of prematurity and stillbirth — a crucial first step in improving birth outcomes.
Learn more about Prematurity and Stillbirth Prevention at Seattle Children’s
Cardiac Care
The Children’s Heart Center team of world-class specialists and surgeons is internationally renowned for using noninvasive techniques to treat and diagnose heart conditions. The Funding Focus will support its efforts to use innovative technology so that more heart procedures can be performed successfully without open-heart surgery; to advance the use of cardiac-assist devices, which can be used to artificially support cardiac function; and to research how better to use noninvasive imaging to diagnose cardiac conditions. Taylor encourages guilds to use Raise the Paddle to benefit the Funding Focus area that most inspires them, saying, "It's deeply gratifying to support leading-edge pediatric care and research that will impact children and families for years to come." Call 206-987-2153 to discuss having a Funding Focus speaker at your next event, and look for more Funding Focus details in our next three issues.
Learn more about Cardiac Care at Seattle Children’s