Dragonfly Foundation
506 Oak Street
Cincinnati, OH 45219
Patient and Family Gifting and Events
Grant Application:
TDF’s Patient and Family Gifting and Events program provides families, both in the hospital and receiving outpatient treatments, with urgent care items, gifts, support, events, and activities to lessen the financial and emotional burden of the fight against pediatric cancer.
Gifting: TDF’s gifting program provides toys, gifts, gift cards for essential items like food and gas, clothing, household goods, and products to help patients, their siblings, and their families get through the day-to-day struggles. Gifts have an average value of $50-$150.
Events: TDF provides regular events that are free of charge and can accommodate the very specific needs of pediatric cancer patients and their families. Though events may look different amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, they are an opportunity for families to step away from the battlefield and build community with people going through similar experiences.
Goals/Objectives:
With funding from the Dater Foundation, The Dragonfly Foundation will support between 200-700 families with gifts and activities to provide for their well-being during pediatric cancer treatment(s) and to lessen the financial and emotional burden of pediatric cancer. Specific objectives in pursuit of this goal include:
1. Work with hospital social workers to provide urgent care items and gifts to lessen the financial and emotional burden of the fight against pediatric cancer. The items gifted are intended to help patients and families get through their day-to-day struggles.
2. Plan and Execute a calendar of activities and events—in medical care facilities and offsite throughout the region in locations that allow safe social distancing—to accommodate immune-compromised patients for entire families to enjoy. These events give families a chance to get out of the hospital and the house, have fun together, and create lasting memories in a difficult time.
Grant Evaluation Report:
Despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID pandemic with a patient base of immunocompromised youth, we were able to implement our gifting programs, events, and activities with even more success than originally expected. Our goals for the year were to support between 200-700 families, which we expected to equal between 800-2,800 individuals. Instead, in the 2021-2022 Fiscal Year we served 3,150 pediatric cancer patients and their families.
The psychosocial impact a pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment has on a family is immense. There is growing recognition among researchers and medical providers that patient care must include not only leading-edge medical therapies, but also supports to provide for the wellbeing of entire families (https://tinyurl.com/rdjyr4j). These issues are so critical that the Psychosocial Standard of Care Project for Childhood Cancer identified supports that align with The Dragonfly Foundation, such as opportunities for social interaction and collaboration with care team professionals, as critical to improving wellbeing for families fighting pediatric cancer. (https://tinyurl.com/so5kndt).
For example, the annual Summer Bash is our celebration for the end of summer and TDF’s birthday and is held at Great American Ballpark. Our families get to enjoy delicious food; play wiffleball, basketball, cornhole, and carnival games; dance; race carts; and play on the playground. They also get to explore part of the ballpark and take pictures down by the field. It is an amazing time filled with lots of laughter! In 2022, 200 patients, family members, volunteers, staff, and even Rosie Red were able to participate in this day of joy.
Since 2010, the organization has served 6,864 individuals including 1,586 pediatric cancer patients, 2,909 parents, and 2,369 siblings. This work has gone on to have a transformational impact on patient care at partner hospitals, changing the paradigm of patient care. Our emphasis on the mental health of the entire family, combined with our collaborative relationship with hospital personnel, has had a transformational impact on the care patients receive while in the hospital. As shared recently by Dr. Stella M. Davies, Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation & Immune Deficiency at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, “When a child is very ill or undergoing difficult treatments it’s hard not to have that thought in your mind every minute of the day. Dragonfly provides a place where people can forget, just for a short time, some of the difficulties that are happening in their life. Dragonfly provides community, Dragonfly provides love and Dragonfly provides comfort. We are all so very fortunate to have [them] here working with us to save children’s lives.”
Dr. John Perentesis, Director of Oncology & Chief of Cancer Programs at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center discussed the impact he has witnessed the Dragonfly Foundation has had on both patients and CCMHC's approach to patient care: "The Foundation is out of the box. It actually focuses on the patient experience and what the struggles and other issues that patients and their families are faced with day to day in getting treatment for cancer. The goal and the mission of bringing joy and happiness to families is really extraordinarily needed, and it's a huge void in care across the country... It is affecting families in a remarkably positive way that really is unparalleled. It is a direction and way we need to go nationally."
Results:
From July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 TDF was able to help 3,150 pediatric cancer patients and their family members find strength, courage, and joy and create moments of levity and a sense of normalcy during one of the most difficult times in their lives. This included:
• 453 gifts and 400 gift cards provided to 650 individuals: Through the Patient and Family Gifting program, TDF?successfully met all of its objectives by providing toys, gifts, gift cards for essential items like food and gas, clothing, household goods, and essential items to help patients, their siblings, and their families get through the?emotional and financial toll of pediatric cancer.?As Dragonfly families—especially the young patients and their siblings—adjust to isolation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the gifting program also prioritizes the purchase of entertainment and technology. Providing these gifts helps these children get through day-to-day struggles, keep in touch with their support system, and celebrate life. TDF staff also worked with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) to safely deliver gifts to patients and families, despite the logistical challenges caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
• 2,500 individuals participated in 280 events and activities: Through the Patient and Family Events program, TDF provided events that were safe, free, and could accommodate the very specific needs of immunocompromised pediatric cancer patients and their families. Events included: Summer Bash, Holiday Parties, Kings Island and Coney Island Days, and the Reds Opening Day Parade, as well as tickets to events at Heritage Bank Arena, FC Cincinnati games, Reds games, and more.
Website:
http://www.dragonfly.org Amount: $25,000
Date: October 2021
