Also in 2013 the foundation toured the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh & Lemieux Family Center and saw firsthand the wonderful work this specialized hospital was doing for children from birth to 21 years of age.
As we toured the facility, we saw young infants who were born premature with medical conditions that required a stay in a neonatal unit in a hospital, and the help their parents were getting in preparation for when they took their infant child home.
Many of the staff here had experience at other hospitals that were administering the Beads of Courage program, and were hoping for the day their facility found a sponsor to implement it. This is where the Palermo Heart-to-Heart Foundation stepped in.
Starting late in 2013 the Beads chronic conditions program will be started to allow these children to RECORD, TELL, and OWN their stories of courage during treatment for cancer and other serious illness.
As one mother (whose infant child was being treated here) told us, “My daughter will get well and one day I will show her this string of beads, and as a family we can talk about what she went through and how to be proud of that.”
