Music therapy is the planned use of music-based experiences by a trained professional to support health, communication, and emotional regulation. For children coping with surgery, hospitalization, cancer care, intensive procedures, or repeated appointments, music can help process treatment trauma by restoring a sense of control, expressing feelings, regulating the body, creating continuity, and strengthening relationships […]
Don’t Turn Awareness Month Into a Sales Pitch
Awareness Month Integrity: How to Inform, Support, and Mobilize Without Selling the Cause An awareness month is a designated period for increasing public understanding, encouraging prevention or support, and mobilizing action around a health, social, cultural, or environmental issue. Awareness month integrity means keeping those activities accurate, useful, respectful, and accountable to the people most […]
Pediatric Survivorship Clinics Are Redefining Post Treatment Care
Pediatric survivorship clinics are redefining post-treatment care by replacing the traditional “end of treatment” milestone with a lifelong, risk-based model that monitors late effects, supports mental and social health, coordinates primary care, and prepares young people to manage their own health. The National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 495,000 people in the United States […]
Nonprofits Are Ditching One Day Events for Year Round Advocacy
Nonprofit year-round advocacy is the sustained practice of organizing supporters, educating communities, influencing public policy, and maintaining relationships beyond a single campaign date. Although one-day events remain powerful fundraising and awareness tools, many nonprofits are shifting toward continuous advocacy because policy decisions, donor relationships, and public attention develop over weeks and months rather than within […]
Teaching Kids the Meaning Behind the Gold Ribbon
Gold Ribbon Meaning: Teaching Kids About Childhood Cancer Awareness The gold ribbon is the internationally recognized symbol of childhood cancer awareness. Its color represents the precious value of children and the strength, courage, and resilience of young people affected by cancer. Teaching kids its meaning in age-appropriate language helps them show compassion, understand why communities […]
Artists in Residence Are Becoming Standard in Children’s Hospitals
Artists in residence in children’s hospitals are professional or professionally supervised creatives who work inside pediatric-care settings through recurring, structured programs rather than occasional entertainment visits. They are becoming a standard feature of child-centered care, especially at large children’s hospitals, where arts programs now commonly include bedside music, visual arts, dance, theater, storytelling, digital media, […]
First Hospital Admission Here Is How Recreation Helps
A first hospital admission is a patient’s initial inpatient stay, often involving unfamiliar routines, separation from normal supports, anxiety, and reduced control. Recreation therapy—the planned use of leisure, play, creative activity, movement, and social participation to support health—can make this transition more manageable. Evidence from the American Therapeutic Recreation Association, the World Health Organization, and […]
Asking About Outcomes Versus Comfort Which Matters More
Patient-centered care and outcome alignment describe the effort to achieve meaningful health results without treating comfort as irrelevant. In most decisions, outcomes should carry priority because safety, survival, function, and symptom improvement determine whether care works; however, comfort is itself a legitimate patient-reported outcome and often affects recovery, adherence, trust, and quality of life. The […]
How Our Meal Train Kept Us Fed Through Chemo
A meal train is a coordinated system in which friends, relatives, neighbors, or community members provide meals and groceries to a household facing a demanding life event. During our family’s chemotherapy experience, that shared food support kept us fed when treatment fatigue, nausea, appointments, and caregiving left little energy for shopping or cooking. The experience […]
Therapy During Treatment Versus After What Families Need
Therapy timing—the choice to provide psychological, family, or caregiver support during active treatment, after treatment, or across both phases—can significantly shape how families cope with cancer. The strongest approach is usually continuous, needs-based care rather than an either-or decision: early therapy can reduce distress and improve communication while treatment is underway, whereas post-treatment therapy can […]