Capital Caring Announces New Children’s Program

“I found out that other kids in my school had a parent die and now I will have better ways to deal with it.  I learned that when there’s grief, there’s happiness too.”-Katherine, age 12

Katherine participated in Capital Caring’s 6 week in-school grief club called Caring Circles.

Dealing with the death of a loved one is never easy, and for children, coping with grief and the life changes that often accompany it, is especially challenging. Capital Caring has served as an oasis of caring for hundreds of children who have experienced the loss of a close loved one, providing them access to experienced grief counselors, art, music and pet therapists, grief education workshops and trained volunteers to nurture them along their grief journey.

And, while not as common, children suffering with chronic, life-challenging illness may need palliative and hospice care themselves. Our holistic palliative care focuses on improving the quality of life for the child and the family through expert management of pain and other physical symptoms. To help the child and family cope with the complex issues resulting from a serious illness or condition, we provide emotional, spiritual and other support services.

It is with these small and vulnerable persons in mind that Capital Caring announces the establishment of a new Children’s Program to provide more comprehensive, coordinated care for children. The goal of the program is to ensure that every child facing a life-challenging illness has access to our state-of-the-art palliative and hospice care, and that each child who has lost someone they love has access to our compassionate bereavement care.

Thanks to a new partnership with Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC), Capital Caring’s pediatric hospice program is integrating web-based video consultations to discuss patient symptoms, treatment and support services, providing an even greater level of service to our patients and their families.

Additionally, Capital Caring’s grief program for children includes The Point of Hope  bereavement camp, held annually in several Capital Caring neighborhoods. This program is designed to allow children of all ages to engage in traditional camp activities while learning healthy ways to express and cope with their grief and connect with other children who have experienced a loss.

Tara Hoit has been named Director of Capital Caring’s Children’s Program to help create, implement and sustain children’s bereavement and pediatric palliative support programs based on best practices. She has more than 15 years of experience as a children’s program development professional and has a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications with an emphasis on healthcare organizational communication. Her duties include raising funds for children’s programming through grants, private donations and corporate sponsorships. She helped raise $450k for Capital Caring’s recent Passion for Caring Gala supporting pediatric hospice and palliative care.

For more information on Capital Caring’s Children’s Program, contact Tara Hoit at thoit@capitalcaring.org.