The Child Life Wish List Cocktail Party
You are cordially invited…to stay at home and relax!  This year there is no event to attend.  Please enjoy an evening at home!  We ask that you again consider supporting the Child Life Wish List – which allows families to enjoy time together and ease the psychological trauma often associated with medical events.  To make a contribution or to learn more about the Child Life Wish List, please contact the Foundation at (212) 241-1234.

Past Child Life Wish List Cocktail Parties

What is Child Life?
The Child Life Program helps minimize the psychological trauma often associated with medical events, invasive procedures, illness and hospitalization. Anxiety related to illness and hospitalization can interfere with a child's response to medical care. Child Life specialists are master-level professionals who are integral members of the health care team and serve as advocates for all pediatric patients. The Child Life Program helps pediatric patients through play, education opportunities for self-expression and mastery and interaction with peers. Child Life provides comfort to families through therapeutic programming and a staffed family resource center. The Child Life Program helps to humanize health care for children of all ages and their families.

Child Life at Mount Sinai Hospital
The Mount Sinai Children's Hospital accepts and treats every child who walk through the door, whether insured or uninsured. Programs such as Child Life have suffered during the current fiscal environment, as hospitals have had to reduce funding of non-medical services. Our Child Life Program is dependent on outside funding in order to provide critical services to the children at Mount Sinai . Without your help, the services available to these patients will be limited in both time and scope.

Why is Child Life so Important?
When a young child is restricted to her hospital room, Child Life transform her room into a therapeutic play space for music, art and pet-assisted therapy.

When a teenager is coping with a relapse, Child Life offers him opportunities to explore his feelings and express himself by teaching him skills necessary to create his own video.

When a parent has a serious ill infant, Child Life offers therapeutic programs, support groups, classes, internet access and a research library.

When a child is hospitalized for months, Child Life provides her with a laptop at her bedside which can help her maintain connections with schoolmates, friends and family through video and electronic communication.

When a child is scheduled for surgery, Child Life relieves his anxiety through prehospitalization tours, medical play sessions and preparation with specially designed surgery dolls.

Contributions
You can make a contribution by check or credit card. You may either designate your funding towards an item on the wish list, or you may leave it as "undesignated" . For a copy of the complete Wish List, please call Jennifer Schneiderman, at (212) 241-1234. Please make checks payable to "The Mount Sinai Children's Center Foundation".