How We're Helping
Education
Striving for More seeks to reshape attitudes to recognize psychological and emotional support as an integral part of cancer care. Education is a key component of all we do. We welcome the opportunity to speak at events in order to raise public awareness. If you are interested in making arrangements to have our founder, Diane Moore, speak at one of your events, please contact us.
Funding For Cancer Support Programs
Our organization does not provide any direct patient services. We believe that the oncology hospitals that are currently working with the children should be supported fully to allow them to provde high quality emotional support services. Therefore, we raise money that we can then pass onto the hospitals in the form of directed gifts or grants. Along with the funding, we also share information about quality emotional support programs that have been proven successful at other pediatric oncology hospitals. Here is our full list of Programs Implemented for Striving For More, Inc. Programs being considered for 2012 funding include:
Supporting the tools to extend Art Therapy into the Digital world and resources that allow Arts Programming to expand from the clinic into the in-patient area, is another way Striving For More is supporting children with cancer.
Digital Art Therapy is an effective form of counseling and engagement with the children going through cancer treatment. Creating digital paintings, collages and illustrations in an easy to use format is a powerful way to engage with the children's fears, anxieties and emotions during treatment. Art therapists offer valuable resources to the therapy team.
The iPad has the powerful advantage over art supplies of being light and portable. The iPads can be easily cleaned between uses and can be used in situations where sterile conditions are important.
Striving For More, Inc. is proud to have funded new iPads in 2011 to UNC and Duke for their Art Therapy program. This program is in high demand by the children in the Oncology units of UNC and Duke.
Support groups that provide Emotional support, education, and social connection for 15-30 year old patients at Duke and UNC. Having the confidence and encouragement of peers going through the same challenges with cancer and it's life changing adjustments, is important for any age group. This support is greatly needed for those who are older and living with cancer in their day to day lives.
Fun and colorful dry erase clings that provide helpful information in a personalized format that allow pediatric patients to share information with their care team such as the way they prefer to take medication, what they need in painful situations, and what they like to do.
Striving for More recruited volunteers, funded the materials and managed a project to design a mural which transformed all four walls of a Procedure Room of the Duke Pediatric Oncology Clinic, an area used daily by children with cancer and their families. This room was selected because it is often used for painful procedures such as lumbar punctures. The mural was designed to ease fear and distract the children during difficult procedures.
Striving For More purchased 450 new books for UNC and Duke for distribution to families with newly diagnosed children.
Beads of Courage are designed to let children with cancer commemorate their personal cancer journey. Every time a child has a procedure—whether a chemotherapy infusion, radiation therapy, bone marrow aspirate, blood transfusion or other procedures—they receive a special bead from a member of the medical team to add to their “courage bead necklace.” Each bead represents a specific treatment: a red heart bead for a blood transfusion, for example.
Beads of Courage demonstrate a child’s strengths and accomplishments. Each child’s unique necklace can help friends, schoolmates and extended family members better understand what he or she has gone through. Parents may also want to wear the beads to work as a way of sharing their child’s cancer journey with colleagues.
These are the cloth bags that hold the children's Beads of Courage beads. These bead bags can be easily sewn together as group projects for girl scouts, school, home economics and more. This is another tangible way that many of our volunteers show their love and support for those children who participate in the Beads of Courage program.
This is a Striving For More, Inc. exclusive program. Striving For More volunteers fill backpacks with care kit items for families who have recently received the tragic news that their child has cancer. Striving For More receives donations for needed materials.
The Chemo Duck enables hospital staff, parents and caregivers to prepare children for chemotherapy treatment and eliminate the fear of the unknown. The stuffed duck is a soft 12 inch play therapy tool to teach children about cancer treatment. Striving For More, Inc. is proud to have fully funded this program in 2011 and 2012 for UNC Children's Oncology Department and in 2012 for Duke Pediatric Hematology Oncology Departments.
We have an ongoing project to recruit volunteers to sew medical play dolls for Duke. These blank dolls are used as a communication tool for explaining invasive procedures to a child and/or for diagnosing a child's discomfort. The child is given the doll dressed in a little hospital gown. If a child is facing an IV for the first time, medical staff can demonstrate the insertion of an IV on a doll's arm as they explain the procedure to the child. Sometimes children use the dolls to communicate where they feel pain or discomfort.
We are proud of our comprehensive website in that it contains an excellent consolidation of resources for those seeking information regarding childhood cancer. When coping with a serious childhood illness, people should not have to spend precious time searching the web trying to find resources. Our website serves as a single portal for accessing invaluable information.
Striving for More provided funding to Duke’s Pediatric Oncology Department to start their first inpatient support group.
Triangle Childhood Cancer Support Group
Striving for More is starting the Triangle’s first support group for parents of children with cancer. This out of hospital support group will be supported by a Psychologist and a Chaplain from our board. CLICK HERE for specific details.
Future Cancer Support Programs
- Child Life Therapy Resources - would ensure that there is a dedicated Child Life Specialist for the Pediatric Oncology kids.
- Community Outreach child life specialist - coordinate outpatient support activities such as outpatient support groups, camps, family programs and school re-entry.
Social Workers and Pediatric Psychologists
Fund social worker and pediatric psychologist support resources. This would relieve social workers and pediatric psychologists of the heavy case management work that currently prevents them from performing clinical talk therapy with the children and their families today.
Fund resources to ensure that pastoral care is present for children in both in patient and out patient areas of oncology.
Other Services
- Funding for patient/caregiver education and support materials
- Funding for Resources and/or Materials for Art/Music Therapy Programs
Feel free to contact Striving For More, Inc. HERE with any questions or comments. We are here to help.
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