In tough economic times, statistics in newspapers and on the national news can mask the struggles that families go through. City of Hope staff members, though, see those struggles firsthand — and take action.
Take the story of a couple from Loma Linda, Calif. They travel to City of Hope with their sick 10-year-old daughter three times a month for therapeutic apheresis, a procedure in which a machine removes harmful components from her blood.
 Dozens of cans and cartons of food will help a family celebrate the holidays. (Photo by p.cunningham) |
Nurses and other staff in the Transfusion Medicine, Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology divisions recognized how tough it is for the couple to make ends meet while helping their child through illness. So the staff banded together to launch a food drive before Thanksgiving, gathering several boxes of cans and packaged foods ranging from macaroni and cheese to spaghetti. They also provided a Thanksgiving turkey.
“We’d like to do this every year,” said Gay Almquist, director of the Blood Donor Center. Staff at the center delivered the food to the family on Nov. 15.
Likewise, employees across City of Hope now are gathering toys, clothes and gifts for patients and their families through the organization’s longstanding “Adopt-a-Family” program. Sixty-five families have signed up for the program through the Department of Clinical Social Work, which creates wish lists for each adopted family indicating the items they need.
The families are resilient, even in hard times. In one family of six, for example, two children are in treatment for leukemia and both recently underwent bone marrow transplants. They live three hours away from City of Hope, so traveling is difficult, but the parents hope to be able to keep the holidays as normal, happy and festive as possible, despite illness. Their wishes are simple, clothes, books and games.
Although all the 2008 families in the program already have been matched with sponsors, the Department of Clinical Social Work still needs monetary donations for families who could not get on the list. These donations go toward gas cards for family members who drive many miles to get patients to City of Hope for treatment; they may also go to pay for simple household goods to keep families going.
“These donations make a big difference for our families,” said Nellie Garcia, M.S.W., director of the Department of Clinical Social Work. “They not only bring joy to the patients and families, but also help families come to the hospital to see their loved ones during treatment.”
To donate to a deserving family, please contact Reina Martinez in the Department of Clinical Social Work at 626-256-4673, ext. 62282.
Editor’s note: December also is a good time for faculty and staff members to support research, treatment and education efforts at City of Hope through tax-deductible donations. For information about the Employee Giving Program, please contact Mary Anderson at ext. 26347.
