Wish on a Star
Gift Book
Providing comfort to children Dear friends, I’m thrilled to introduce you to the Wish on a Star Gift Book for UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. Its pages are loaded with opportunities for you to make a sick child’s life a little bit brighter. No one enjoys a stay in the hospital, but for children, it can be especially upsetting. Unfamiliar faces, strange surroundings, and uncomfortable medical procedures…it’s scary for our littlest patients. You can help them get through it by donating
Child Life Assistants
Child Life programs at UMass Children’s Medical Center help children and their families cope with the stress and anxiety of a hospital stay. We provide a child-friendly, warm environment and offer recreational, educational, and therapeutic play opportunities. Programs include child-appropriate preparation for procedures to reduce fear, pet therapy, supervised play and craft activities, and visits from the “Clown Care Unit.”
#001
items from this catalog. Each one has been chosen by our expert caregivers for the impact it will make on a child’s—and their family’s—comfort and peace of mind. Please be as generous as you can. With gratitude,
Mary M. Lee, MD, Physician-in-Chief UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center
450 pays for one Child Life Assistant for 1 week, $ 104 needed
Crib Mobiles
To distract, soothe, and entertain babies.
#002
$20 each, 15 needed
Bereavement Support Packages
When a family experiences the tragic death of a child, we offer them a package of remembrances and support resources, including such items as a charm of their baby’s fingerprint, a clay mold of her foot, and a variety of resources to help them cope with their grief.
#003
$75 each, 20 needed
Find the Gift Book online at: give.umassmemorial.org/giftbook
Autism & Special Needs Patient Essentials
Hospitalization and medical procedures make most of us feel anxious, but for children with sensory disorders, these experiences can be overwhelming. A variety of products and tools are proven to have a calming effect during times of high stress. Sets include weighted blankets, squishy balls, tactile discs for therapeutic play, and soothing sound systems.
#007
$260 per set, 5 needed
Cough Buddy™Post-operative Pillow Backpacks filled with small toys
When children are abruptly removed from their homes due to suspected abuse or neglect, they are rarely able to collect their favorite blanket, stuffed animal, or special toy to bring with them. In these cases, children need comforting. We aim to provide each such child with a small backpack filled with comforting toys and diversions.
#004
$15 each, 350 needed
Music Therapy Program
These special pillows, shaped like stuffed animals, are firm and flexible. They help the patient cough and breathe deeply after thoracic or abdominal surgery by supporting the child as she hugs the pillow during recovery, thus minimizing pain.
#008
$30 each, 25 needed
Headphones
For listening to music, books on tape, and guided meditation, headphones minimize outside noise and help patients and families relax.
#009
$8 each, 20 needed
Music therapy, provided by experts and tailored to each child’s medical and development status, helps alleviate stress, reduces the perception of pain, and promotes relaxation. Music-making, songwriting, or simply listening helps children express emotion and feel empowered during hospitalization.
Pack ’n Play® portable crib/playpen
#005
#010
1,060 pays for a Music Therapist for 1 week, $ 52 needed
Diaper Bags for Mom & Baby
A crib is a necessity for any new baby, but some families can’t afford them. These portable cribs will be donated to parents who don’t have a bassinet or crib for their baby once it’s time to leave the neonatal intensive care unit.
$130 each, 6 needed
Stuffed Animals
For families who can’t afford to purchase their own, these 8-pocket diaper bags help new moms carry and organize their babies’ supplies when they leave the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Every child admitted to the Children’s Medical Center receives a cuddly stuffed animal friend to hug and play with while they’re here, and to take home when they leave.
#006
#011
$50 each, 25 needed
$10 each, 1,000 needed
Neonatal “cribette”
As babies in the neonatal intensive care unit progress, they no longer need an incubator or radiant warmer. Cribettes are larger than bassinets, but smaller than a standard crib—perfect for babies with chronic health issues who no longer require a heater.
#012
$500 each, 4 needed
Sound Machines
To help hospitalized patients and their families get a much-needed night’s sleep by minimizing noise.
#013
$20 each, 15 needed
Breakfast for Parents Program
We offer breakfast for any mom or dad who stays overnight with their sick child. They can eat in their child’s room, instead of going to the public cafeteria. Parents tell us it helps them to feel that extra bit of “normal” during a difficult time.
#014
$20 per 10 breakfasts, 90 needed
Cooling blanket
Children and adolescents who arrive at the hospital’s emergency room with severe concussion or traumatic brain injury are at risk for brain damage. A cooling blanket can provide neuro protection and reduce the negative effects of trauma, thus helping children to recover and preserve brain function.
#015
$10,000
Hospital Comfort Kits
Feeding pumps for the neonatal intensive care unit
Double the impact of your gift when you donate a feeding pump! When babies are born prematurely, they are often unable to coordinate breathing and sucking, so feeding pumps are required to safely deliver nutrition. The Medela Company has offered to provide us with one additional free pump for each pump purchased.
#017
$2,300 each, 25 needed
Easing pain and stress of difficult childhood treatments
Sometimes caring for children who come to the Children’s Medical Center requires tests that are painful. Just as with a trip to the dentist’s office, the CMC wants to provide pain relief and a positive experience for children. Nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) provides a comfortable way to help children through sometimes painful and anxiety-provoking tests and procedures.
#018
$9,347
Digital tablet
For parents who have unexpected stays at the hospital with their children: toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream, soap, sleep masks, cozy socks, etc.
When children come to one of our pediatric clinics for exams, tests, or treatments, they are often anxious or fearful about what will happen. Tablet computers, loaded with age-appropriate videos and games, distract and entertain them during medical or surgical procedures.
#016
#019
$10 each, 50 needed
$200 each, 10 needed