With Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s pediatric cancer experts by your side, you’ll find they’re focused on a multidisciplinary approach for treating your child. That means they utilize the expertise of:
- Pediatric oncologists
- Hematologists
- Pathologists
- Surgeons
- Radiation oncologists
- Child life specialists
- Rehabilitation therapists
- Psychologists
- Social workers
- Art therapists
- Integrative medicine specialists
- Nutritionists
- Patient navigators
They all have one goal in mind: to provide the best care for your child and support your family.
Integrative care
At Roswell Park Oishei Children’s, we offer your child the services of an integrative medicine specialist. Integrative medicine is just one of the many ways we support and care for your child and includes:
- Acupuncture
- Acupressure
- Massage
- Reiki
- Reflexology
- Aromatherapy
- Meditation
- Guided imagery
- Breathing exercises
Our specialist works closely with your child’s cancer or blood disorder care team to reduce and sometimes even prevent treatment-related symptoms like nausea, fatigue, pain, and headaches.
These services are also available to you, your family or the child’s caregivers to help lower stress and anxiety. Our integrative medicine team is completely donor-and grant-funded, making it free of charge for your child and family.
Nursing services
Just as our hematologists and oncologists specialize in pediatrics, our Roswell Park Oishei Children’s nurses all have extensive subspecialty experience in pediatric cancers and blood disorders. They are very familiar with the ins and outs of cancer treatments and therapies.
Our nurses and nurse practitioners will help your child through treatment by closely checking for changes, side effects and anything else that needs attention. You’ll find our nurses are a reliable source of support and knowledge for your child and caregivers.
Comprehensive support services
From wig styling to pet therapy to smoking cessation services, Roswell Park Oishei Children’s offers complete support services to your child. We also offer psychosocial support to relatives and caregivers, and help with all of the practical issues needed to care for someone who is having cancer treatment. Some of the support services we offer at Roswell Park include:
- Child Life Program – Led by a Certified Child Life Specialist, the purpose of this service is to minimize the trauma of illness and medical experiences through promoting the patients and families ability to cope. Child Life Specialists provide:
- Preparation for procedures using developmentally-appropriate techniques
- Diagnosis education for the patient and sibling(s) using developmentally-appropriate techniques
- Creation of coping plans, including non-pharmaceutical pain management and distraction during procedures
- Medical play and therapeutic activities to normalize the medical experience and promote mastery
- Self-expression activities to aid in processing and expressing difficult emotions
- Promote the ability to meet developmental milestones and goals
- School outreach and peer education
- Memory making, legacy building, and navigation through end-of-life care
Child Life Services are available to all pediatric patients and families, and can be consulted for children of adult patients as well.
- Beads of Courage – Part of a national arts-in-medicine program that provides therapeutic support through stringing beads. Your child’s cancer journey is honored by using beads as meaningful symbols that mark the events and milestones in his or her treatment path.
- Pet Therapy – Roswell Park currently has 15 sweet, furry four-legged volunteers that provide company and emotional healing for our patients. These dogs are a calming presence and help boost morale and improve well-being. All of our therapy dogs are certified either by Therapy Dogs International (TDI) or Pet Partners (Delta Society) and their human companions have completed Roswell Park’s volunteer process.
- The Young Adult Cancer Program – This special program is for cancer patients aged 15-39 and addresses their medical, psychosocial, and emotional needs. We provide:
- Social and networking opportunities and events
- Help addressing survivorship issues
- Infertility risk assessment and counseling
- School Outreach Program – Roswell Park Oishei Children’s professionals such as a nurse, child life specialist, social worker or child psychologist can visit the child’s school or classroom to help faculty and students understand the challenges a young patient may face with a return to school.
- Fertility Counseling – This service lets you discuss your risks for infertility and learn more about possible preservation options.
- Look Good…Feel Better – This program helps patients cope with appearance-related side effects of treatment. It offers skin, hair and nail care tips; make-up techniques; and wig, scarf, hat, and turban demonstrations. Offered monthly. For more information and to register, call 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345).
- Social Media – Connect with the Young Adult Cancer Network on Facebook, email or by phone at 716-845-8665.
- Family Support – Family members are welcome to attend support group meetings or have private consultations with our Psychosocial Oncology team by calling 716-845-8022. Consultations are free and confidential.
Wellness Program
The overall health and wellness of your child and family matter most to us at Roswell Park Oishei Children’s. Because smoking can affect everyone in the family, if you or someone in your family is a smoker we have programs in place to help you get quit the habit once and for all.
- Smoking Cessation – Roswell Park Cessation Services (RPCS) provides evidence-based, best practice tobacco cessation services. These are available to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center employees, state quitlines, health plans, and employer sponsored programs.
- New York State Smokers’ Quitline – Based at Roswell Park and supported by the New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program, the NYS Smokers’ Quitline has logged well over one million calls since it began. Call 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487). Roswell Park was the first health care facility in Western New York to go entirely smoke-free.
Courage of Carly Fund
Courage of Carly Fund supports research and family-centered programming to benefit children receiving outpatient care for non-malignant blood disorders at Roswell Park’s new Katherine, Anne & Donna Gioia Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center. The Courage of Carly Fund hosts special events and parties, including a Halloween bash, summer picnic, spa parties, and VIP Buffalo Bills tailgate parties. Courage of Carly Fund also offers your child and family tickets to concerts, theater shows, and celebrity meet-and-greets.
Courage of Carly Fund has a special focus: supporting the world-renowned doctors and researchers at Roswell Park. Courage of Carly Fund allows Roswell Park to create new pediatric cancer research, allowing researchers to take their ideas and turn them into reality. These ideas will help save lives.
If you would like to get involved with any of the support programs we offer at Roswell Park Oishei Children’s , please call the Office of Patient and Family Experience at 716-845-8114.
For more information or to make an appointment with a Roswell Park specialist, please call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355).