Support sessions help children cope with parent’s cancer diagnosis
As children across South Florida head back to school carrying backpacks
filled with supplies, some students return to the classroom saddled with
heart-breaking news: their parent has been diagnosed with cancer. To help
affected children cope during this crucial time, Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s
Eugene M. and Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute has expanded the Children’s
Lives Include Moments of Bravery (CLIMB®) Program by offering convenient
after-school sessions at a new, centralized location.
The Institute was the first cancer program in South Florida to offer CLIMB,
developed by the non-profit Children’s Treehouse Foundation™.
CLIMB is a free program open to children ages 6 to 11, with groups meeting
once a week for four weeks. Led by a specially trained clinical social
worker, the sessions use discussion and art to help participants express
their feelings. The children are also provided with their own workbook,
which they can share with family members.
CLIMB meetings will take place on Tuesdays this fall beginning September
2, from 3:30pm to 4:30pm, at the Boca Raton Community Center. The new
time and location are intended to make the program more accessible to
the community, according to Elsa Raynor, a licensed clinical social worker
at the Lynn Cancer Institute, who will lead the meetings.
“We are extremely grateful to the City of Boca for hosting CLIMB
at the Community Center, which will help us increase awareness and broaden
the reach of this valuable program,” Raynor said. “It’s
important for these children to know there’s a place right here
in the ‘heart of the city’ where they can meet and connect
with other children going through the same situation.”
The CLIMB Program is part of a robust and innovative series of initiatives
at the Lynn Cancer Institute that are aimed at addressing the varied and
sometimes daunting non-clinical needs of a cancer patient and their loved
ones. CLIMB is a component of the Institute’s broader HUGS (Helping
U Get Support) Program, which is a comprehensive effort to support children
and teens. Both are part of the umbrella CINDY Bertuch Rosencrans Life
Expressions Program, which was founded at the Institute and provides emotional,
personal, education and logistical support for a patient and their family
at all phases of diagnosis and treatment, with an emphasis on supporting
the end-of-life process.
About Boca Raton Regional Hospital – Advancing the boundaries of medicine.
Boca Raton Regional Hospital is an advanced, tertiary medical center
(BRRH.com) with 400 beds and more than 800 primary and specialty physicians on staff.
The Hospital is a recognized leader in oncology, cardiovascular disease
and surgery, minimally invasive surgery, orthopedics, women’s health,
emergency medicine and the neurosciences, all of which offer state-of-the-art
diagnostic and imaging capabilities. The Hospital is a designated Comprehensive
Stroke Center by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
Boca Raton Regional Hospital is the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished
Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ for the 10th year in a row
and was named one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals in 2011, 2012,
2013 and 2014 both by Healthgrades®. Boca Raton Regional Hospital
was also recognized for the third consecutive year in
U.S. News & World Report’s 2013–2014 Best Hospitals listing as a top-ranked hospital in the
South Florida metropolitan area.
Media Contact:
Brandon Bielich, 561.955.4706
Communications Specialist
bbielich@brrh.com