Earlier this year, I got to visit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and the experience truly changed me. It was overwhelming in the best way possible. Over the course of a few days we toured the hospital, visited the on-campus housing that's available for families, met with patients and their families, and even got to tour some of the research facilities. I think most people associate the name St. Jude with just the hospital, but there is SO much more that goes on there. Beyond the ground-breaking research and life-saving treatments and medications, there's true joy and hope. One place where that's most apparent is in the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital School Program class rooms.
A huge part of childhood revolves around school. Learning, advancing, making plans for the future, making friends - school is a big deal. That's why St. Jude has their very own School Program. It provides children undergoing treatment the opportunity to continue normal educational activities and to provide re-entry services to ease the transition back to the community school once their treatment is complete. The School Program offers children a familiar and reassuring routine, and gives them hope for the future. The program is accredited as a Special Purpose School by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and offers several different services to assist patients with academics while undergoing treatment at St. Jude.
Right within the hospital are classrooms for St. Jude hospital-bound services. These services were set up for patients who live outside the Memphis area and have to remain at St. Jude for treatment. Some children have to be at St. Jude for a year or longer, so you can see why this is a much needed service. St. Jude currently has 6 teachers and a teacher assistant on staff to provide instruction for patients in grades K-12 and each child enrolled in the program gets at least 3 hours of instruction each week. What's great about the program is that it emphasizes using books and assignments from the patient’s home school, that way the transition back to school is a little easier (although, the School Program can provide a curriculum if necessary). There's even an English as a Second Language (ESL) class with a teacher assistant to help international patients learn English. Once their English skills are at a certain level, they can start to participate in the regular School Program.
The classrooms are just like you'd expect - full of learning materials, desks, bulletin boards, markers, crayons, and even artwork. Oh, the artwork! I loved seeing the paintings on the walls. They were bright and cheerful, and just embodied the hopefulness of St. Jude.
Some children won't be able to attend the School Program and will need homebound services. The staff of the School Program can assist parents in arranging for these services. I'm sure it's really reassuring to parents to know they aren't alone and will have help when they need it, not just with their child's health but for their school needs as well.
The School Program goes beyond just the needs of students while their at the St. Jude facility. They know that returning back to school can be hard, especially when a child's appearance has changed from effects of illness or treatment, and that's why they offer a School Reintegration Program. The staff can contact the patient's home school and give school personnel information about the patient's diagnosis, treatment, and discuss options for continuing the patient's education. They can even talk to the child's classmates and do a little education about the child's health, treatments and the devices he or she may have (like a central line or port-a-cath). Since each child is an individual, each child's school reintegration program will be designed to meet the wishes of that child and the parent or guardian. Also, sometimes a patient may have special educational needs when returning to their home school. The School Program staff can assist parents in advocating for their child to get them the assistance that they need.
Like all St. Jude programs and treatments, the School Program is completely free to patients and their families. No family EVER receives a bill from St. Jude. Think about that for just a moment... can you imagine the devastating financial impact a child's disease can have on a family? Health care deductibles, medications, transportation, missed days of work while your child is ill or undergoing treatment - it all adds up and the burden is heavy. This doesn't happen at St. Jude though. They believe that all a family should worry about is helping their child live, and that is truly amazing.
Please visit the St. Jude website to learn more about this wonderful organization, how no child ever has to pay for any of the care they received there, and how you can help. You can also connect with them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
Disclosure: I am a St. Jude Blogger. I visited the hospital at no cost in order to facilitate this post and share about my experiences. All opinions are my own. Thank you for reading!
Mare W says
We have friends that are currently having to use St. Jude's (in TN) for treatment for their daughter with leukemia. They post how loving, caring and what a family they've become from each time they visit for 'rounds' of treatment. It's heartbreaking to read how much the child and the parents go through with the treatments but yet St. Jude's has always been so good to them each time. Enjoyed this post tremendously.