Teenagers and young adults fighting cancer and other illness at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center now have access to a brand new arts and craft cart that will play an important role during their lengthy hospital stays.
Connecticut Children’s recently debuted a new mobile art and crafts cart, called “Alicia’s Art Cart” that is filled with paint, clay, adult coloring books, duct tape, glue and other artistic materials provided by A.C. Moore. The cart was a gift from the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation, an organization that works to empower hospitalized teenagers with social events and activities.
"The level of care Connecticut Children's provides to the teens is something we value and support," said ARVF Co-Founder and Executive Director, Gisele DiNatale. "We are so proud to have Alicia's Art Cart at Connecticut Children's Medical Center!"
“We are so excited to bring Alicia’s Art Cart to the young patients at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center—our first in the state of Connecticut!” said Pepe Piperno, owner & CEO of A.C. Moore. “We hope the arts and crafts activities on the art cart will inspire teens battling illnesses and provide a creative escape during long hospital stays.”
“Therapeutic art is just one way children are able to express themselves during a difficult time,” said Kelly Foy, Child Life Specialist at Connecticut Children’s. “This creative outlet allows them to process their feelings about their illness while also giving them a wonderful distraction during their hospital stay.”
In her 4 years at the Medical Center, Foy has seen the positive effects of therapeutic art firsthand, noting that even skeptical children come to love it. “Most people associate a children’s hospital with younger kids, but it’s important to remember our adolescents and young adults,” said Foy. “They need access to age-appropriate resources, including activities and projects like those found on the cart.”
Dave Kinahan, the President of Connecticut Children’s Foundation, echoed Foy’s praise of therapeutic art, suggesting it helps create a positive environment in which children can heal.
“Therapeutic art is an important component of the work that we do for our kids,” he said. “We work hard to empower our patients to have a voice and play an active role in their own healing.”
Kinahan made note of the hospital’s adolescent and young adult advisory team that is made up of current and former patients who each helped with the selection of materials for the cart. They play an active role in making sure the hospital experience is the best it can be and consistently offer ideas and feedback that often result in real-time improvements.
“We are thankful for this life-changing donation by the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation and look forward to the smiles it will put on patient’s faces every single day,” said Kinahan.
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About Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation
Strength and Support for Hospitalized Teens.
Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation (ARVF, Corp.) is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization located in Voorhees, NJ. ARVF provides adolescent programs, and activities to enhance the quality of life for hospitalized teens battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Since 2002, Victorious 4 Teens programs have helped thousands of critically ill teens and their families during hospitalization. The Foundation has dedicated over $2.5 million to fund Victorious 4 Teens Programs across the country. For more information about ARVF and to find out how you can help hospitalized teens, visit www.victoriousfoundation.org
About A.C. Moore
A.C. Moore is a specialty retailer offering a vast selection of arts, crafts and floral merchandise to a broad demographic of customers. The first A.C. Moore store opened in Moorestown, New Jersey in 1985, and has expanded to more than 135 stores. Stores are located in the Eastern United States from Maine to Florida. A.C. Moore is devoted to being the first choice for product selection, value and service that inspires and fulfills unlimited creative possibilities. The assortment, convenience, service and pricing differentiate them from their competitors. The assortment of merchandise consists of more than 60,000 stock keeping units, or SKUs, with approximately 40,000 SKUs offered at each store at any one time. They also offer custom framing in the majority of their stores. In-store events and programs for children and adults provide hands-on arts and crafts experience and encourage the creativity of customers. For more information about A.C. Moore, visit http://www.acmoore.com/about
About Connecticut Children’s
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is the only hospital in Connecticut dedicated exclusively to the care of children and is ranked by U.S. News & World Report and Women’s Choice as one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation. With a medical staff of more than 1,000, Connecticut Children’s provides comprehensive, compassionate health care in more than 30 pediatric specialties and subspecialties. Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is a not-for-profit organization, which serves as the primary pediatric teaching hospital for the UConn School of Medicine, has a teaching partnership with the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University and is a research partner of The Jackson Laboratory. Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health is a national leader in community-based prevention and wellness programs.
Source article published here by Connecticut Children's Medical Center News