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Race For Every Child with Eliana’s Light

October 19, 2019

Eliana’s Light is an organization dear to our hearts & we share this event directly from them.

We’d love to walk, run, or roll with you on Oct. 19th in the 2019 Race for Every Child with team Eliana’s Light. We’re organizing a team for the 7th year to support integrative care services and whole health approaches to care at Children’s National National Medical Center — care that addresses the physical, emotional, and mental health needs of patients, their siblings, and their caregivers.

You can be part of the new wave of whole health care that’s already flowing throughout many departments at the hospital. Thanks to your help and that of previous team members, we’ve already been able to:

– contribute to the creation of a new Child Life & Integrative Care Services division at the hospital that’s working to mainstream integrative care services (e.g. acupuncture, massage, yoga, mindfulness, aromatherapy, healing touch, mind-body techniques, and more) to all patients and their caregivers;

– provide 200 “comfort kits” to help build the emotional bond between parent and baby in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU);

– gift 200 “art therapy kits” we co-created with specialists for caregivers and older children to help them express their stress while in the ICU;

– purchase 120 yoga mats to use in yoga, meditation and mindfulness sessions for caregivers, and also to give as gifts to caregivers who are staying for long periods at the hospital;

– enable dozens of staff members to get relevant training that they have used to build capacity in relaxation techniques and mind-body healing methodologies for colleagues and caregivers;

– create a nurse appreciation fund that recognizes nurses who go above and beyond in their care of a patient and her/his family members;

– develop informative videos on how various integrative care modalities have made a positive impact on patients and caregivers; and

– support the development of policies, trainings, and systems that coordinate and facilitate this kind of compassionate care.

We believe so strongly in the importance of caring for the whole of a child and also address the needs of the whole family. From our personal experience and our work with families throughout our region that have children with complex medical conditions, disabilities, and special needs, we know intimately how a child’s health condition affects the whole family.

By joining our team this year, you can help improve the quality of whole health care that doctors, nurses, social workers, child life specialists, case managers, and others at Children’s National give each day. We hope that, together, we can make integrative and whole health care the norm in pediatrics.

And this race is FUN! We’re high-fiving and hugging people we don’t know, we’re cheering on the superhero patients and staff members, we’re dancing to the music, we’re enjoying the treats and games, and we’re loving being with thousands of community members who are similarly committed to supporting patients and their family members at Children’s National. We hope you can be there with us, whether in person or virtually!

To register- “Join Our Team”
(We invite you to make a donation in addition to the registration fee, as only donations go towards this specific purpose.)

If you can’t join us on race day but want to participate, it would be awesome if you could make a donation here (any amount matters): Click here