Our program featured Christe Konopitski who is the Annual Giving Officer in the Office of Philanthropy of Lehigh Valley Health Network. She recently helped coordinate our Teddy Bear donation to Reilly Children’s Hospital. Outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Reilly is the largest Children’s Hospital in Pennsylvania. Their comprehensive services include over 30 sub-specialties. The region’s only 24/7 Children’s ER is the dedicated 27-bed Breidegam Family Children’s ER that is staffed by board-certified pediatric emergency medicine doctors.
Kids are built different, and this is a hospital that is built just for kids. The hospital’s Child Life Team works to make the hospital experience custom tailored for children. The interactive counter and color-changing sensory devices help to calm the children. The Burn Center treats patients of all ages and serves people in 40 counties across three states. Gifts such as our Teddy Bears and activity bags make patients feel good but are also useful tools to distract children from the realities of their treatments.
The Angel Eye camera system in the NICU allows families to stay visually connected with their babies even though they must be physically separated. The Hackerman-Patz House give families an inexpensive place to stay whilst their children are hospitalized. Many of the former patients, including young children, feel the desire to give back to the hospital. Those donors will receive recognition through the Kids Care Club that will launch in May 2022. Our community is indeed fortunate to have a resource like Reilly Children’s Hospital.