SASHA BELLA FUND FOR FAMILY CENTRED CARE

The Sasha Bella Fund For Family Centred Care is a family tribute fund at Sickkids Foundation set up by Sasha's parents Pamela Stein and Jonathan Blumberg just before their first daughter's death on June 20, 2006. The Fund celebrates Sasha and supports family-centred care initiatives at Sickkids Hospital. Please join us June 8 for the 2008 Sasha Bella Fund Walk.

As stated on its homepage, Sickkids mission is "...to provide the best in family-centred, compassionate care, to lead in scientific and clinical advancement, and to prepare the next generation of leaders in child health." Family centred care recognizes: family diversity and ways of coping; the family as a constant in the child's life and expert on their child while care professionals are experts on health; children and parents as entitled to complete, unbiased and timely information; family and staff partnership which increases parent confidence and ability to care for themselves and their child as better for patient safety, care outcomes and family satisfaction.

In support of this vision of patients and parents as partners in care, The Sasha Bella Fund has raised over $100,000 and consulted with doctors, nurses and allied professionals who cared for Sasha or engaged us after Sasha's death as well as members of the Family Advisory Committee of Sickkids and Sickkids parents we have met. Due to your generosity, we have delivered approximately $40,000.00 to carefully selected programs, helped create new family-centred initiatives and assisted hospital educational programs.

What the Fund has accomplished at Sickkids Hospital

1. $2000.00 for the first two recipients of the Sasha Bella Award for Excellence in Family-Centred Care – Labatt Heart Centre, Nursing Week, March 2007
2. $175.00 purchase of stroller for Heart Centre because Sasha loved her strolls within the hospital
3. $1000.00 grant to Palliative Care to fund a parent reading kit
4. $5000.00 to sponsor SickKids first Inter-Professional Practice Education Week, November 2007 Read more
5. $3000.00 for a mural to give the 6A Beanstalk Occupational and Physical Therapy program a home in the Labatt Family Heart Centre
6. Pamela and Jonathan spoke at a Palliative Care workshop for doctors in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit about talking directly with families about dying and death
7. $5000.00 toward expanded Palliative Care therapeutic art, music and clown program - read Sickkids Palliative Care activity report 2006-2007
8. Participant at the Labatt Family Heart Centre retreat, December 2007 Read more
9. 45 minute presentations on strategies for working with parents for Heart Centre interprofessional practise education days, Jan-March 2008
10. Participant at the Interprofessional Practise retreat, February 2008 focused on the Interprofessional and Family Centred Care documentaries and the Family Advisory Committee Review 2007 Read More
11. At the request of parents, arranged an NICU - parent family centred care brainstorm, February 26, 2008 that brought together 12 staff and 4 parents and a submission by another NICU family
12. 15 minute presentation to A Best Practise Spotlight session entitled Principles and Practises of Collaborative Communication, March 2008
13. Catalyst and $5000.00 support for the new Child Life "Sing! Move! Play!" Child-Parent Music Group with Treasa Levasseur (who has donated her energy for one year)
14. Interview for Sickkids educational documentary to promote Interprofessional Practise and Family Centred Care at Sickkids Hospital
15. $5000.00 committment to support logistics and stipends for family - staff advisory in the NICU
16. Brainstorm with Sickkids Palliative Care about family fund support for the Palliative Care Service, April 17 2008
17. Participated at Mount Sinai NICU Parent-Buddy Training with Sickkids social worker Laurie DeOliveira to learn about application at Sickkids, April 27, 2008 Read More
18. $2500.00 support for Sickkids 4rth Annual Partners in Pediatric Patient Safety Symposium for 10 bursaries, parent speaker and prize for best family centred patient safety articleRead more
19. $2000.00 for the second two recipients of the Sasha Bella Award for Excellence in Family-Centred Care – Labatt Heart Centre, Nursing Week, March 2008

Activities in the works

1. Mural signs to the new Palliative Care offices
2. Knitting kits with Marnie's Lounge and Child Life (inspired by Sasha's Bubby's legwarmers)
3. A parent bulletin board with Social Work and hopefully other interested parents and health care professionals
4. Gesture directed physical and occupational therapy via Gesturetek Health mobile carts

Related Activities

1. Interviews for National Film Board of Canada documentary Grief Walker on the palliative interventions of Stephen Jenkinson, summer and winter 2007
2. Development of editable website for Team for Research with Adolescents and Children in Palliation and Grief linking professionals across Canada doing palliative care research, project began October 2006
3. Requested participation for future advanced care practitioners conference at a Max and Beatrice Wolfe Centre for Children’s Grief and Palliative Care practitioners workshop

We are grateful the fund resonates with parents like Jonathan's mom Janis who wrote on their blog:

"After much research and exploration and talking with people at the Sick Kids Foundation we have found the Fund that I think addresses the same goals and priorities that Diane and I have for helping to affect change at SickKids. It's called the Sasha Bella Fund and it's named after a beautiful little girl named Sasha Bella Stein-Blumberg. Her parents set up the Fund after she passed away in June 2006. They do great work, particularly in encouraging family-centred care in the intensive units of Sick Kids, encouraging family centred practice on the general units, advancing palliative care and support for parents and promoting interprofessional education. It's a fund and a cause we are proud to support and we encourage everyone to take a closer look."

Supporters of The Sasha Bella Fund