When a child or adolescent has cancer or a blood disorder, parents will do anything and go anywhere to get the best possible treatment.
Frequently, the family may feel that they need to travel great distances in order to obtain the best care. As pediatric cancer treatments have become more standardized, most physicians agree that the best place to go is an institution most convenient to the family.
The Valerie Fund Children’s Center at Stony Brook Children's, right here in Suffolk County, meets all of these criteria and more.
It offers the most up-to-date diagnostics and treatments for children with cancer. The program is led by Board Certified Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologists, backed by the full resources of a tertiary care hospital. It utilizes a comprehensive multidisciplinary family-centered approach that takes into account not just the medical needs but all the issues that come into play during a long illness — flexible scheduling, 24-hour-visiting, family-centered decision-making, and the child's emotional and developmental stages.
The same is true for children with serious and chronic blood disorders such as hemophilia, von Willebrand’s disease, Sickle Cell Anemia, platelet disorders, and thalassemia. Children receive multidisciplinary, state-of-the-art treatment in a child and family-centered environment — backed by a full complement of specialists including Child Life, Emergency Department, Social Work, Surgery, and any additional specialties that the individual child may need.
In addition, whether for cancer or blood disorders, from the time of diagnosis forward, the focus is not just on achieving a "cure" but on maximizing the quality of life for the child beyond cure. For residents of Suffolk County, this translates into quality, personalized pediatric cancer care in their own backyards.
ABOUT THE VALERIE FUND: The Valerie Fund’s mission is to provide support for the comprehensive health care of children with cancer and blood disorders. We focus on patients and the families who love them. To truly heal a child, that child must be treated emotionally and medically. We also support the family and caregivers closest to the patient. We make local treatment possible for children with
cancer and blood disorders.
In 1976, Valerie Goldstein’s parents Ed and Sue established The Valerie Fund in their nine-year old daughter’s memory. Their desire was to bring the highest quality of care close to home in order to ease the burden on families. Today, there are eight Valerie Fund Children’s Centers that serve nearly 6,000 children each year in community and academic settings in New Jersey, New York City and Long Island, and metro Philadelphia.
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Our Team
The Pediatric Oncology Management Team
Stony Brook's Pediatric Oncology Management Team has been at the forefront of using a multidisciplinary approach to treat cancer. With the highest patient satisfaction scores at the institution, it has become a model for other departments.
At its heart, we believe pediatric cancer care needs to be comprehensive in nature yet highly personalized for the patient and family. Following diagnostic testing, a multidisciplinary group of medical experts, which include pediatric oncologists, and pediatric specialists in surgery, radiation oncology, radiology and others disciplines, meet to discuss the patient and make recommendations. The team brings the family into the decision making process so they understand the treatment options and the reasons for the team's recommendations.
As the family and child go through treatment, one of the program's five nurse practitioners serves as a nurse navigator. The nurse navigator's role is to coordinate treatment, bring the family through the continuum of care seamlessly, connect the patient and family with other Stony Brook services including social work, nutrition, child life services, clinical psychology/psychiatry, survivorship, bereavement, chaplaincy, physical therapy, or whatever the family needs at the moment. Most important, they are advocates for the patient and family. Upon discharge, the nurse practitioner also participates in coordinating the transition to outpatient care and referral to resources in the community.
The Hematology Management Team
The care process for children with serious and chronic blood disorders is identical to that employed for children with cancer in that it is multidisciplinary, patient-centered and focused not just on cure (or control) of the disease but also on maximizing the social and educational development of the child into adulthood. To this end, we work closely with schools and home care agencies to minimize any disruption treatment may have on school, sports and social activities.
Contact Us
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Health Sciences Tower 11th Floor, Room 060
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8111
Phone: (631) 444-7720
Fax: (631) 444-8968
For Appointments: (631) 638-1000
School Intervention and Re-Entry Program
Debra Guigliano, RN, MS, CPNP, CPON
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Health Sciences Tower 11th Floor, Room 060
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8111
Phone: (631) 444- 7521
Fax: (631) 444-9230
Living in Love Palliative Care and Bereavement Program
Rina Meyer, MD
Rosemary Mahan, RN, MS, CPNP, CPON
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Health Sciences Tower 11th Floor, Room 060
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8111
Phone: (631) 444-7720
Fax: (631) 444-8968
Pediatric Oncology Survivorship Program
Laura Hogan, MD
Rosemary Mahan, RN, MS, CPNP, CPON
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Health Sciences Tower 11th Floor, Room 060
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8111
Phone: (631) 444-7720
Fax: (631) 444-8968
For Appointments: (631) 638-1000
Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program
Laura Hogan, MD
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Health Sciences Tower 11th Floor, Room 060
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8111
Phone: (631) 444-7720
Fax: (631) 444-8968
For Appointments: (631) 638-1000