Les Nelkin Pediatric Cancer Survivors Day - North Shore-LIJ Health ...

Gambino Medical and
Science Foundation
Ann Marie DiFrancesca, director
of the Child Life and Creative
Art Therapy Program, recently
accepted another generous donation
from the Gambino Medical and Science
Foundation for the Child Life and
Creative Arts Therapy Program at Cohen
Children’s Medical Center. The first of
the Foundation’s many gifts supported a
dedicated Bone Marrow Transplant Unit,
with subsequent donations funding critical
pediatric programs for the Epilepsy
Center, Division of Behavior and
Development, Diabetes Center and the
soon-to-be-opened Gambino Medical
and Science Foundation Trauma and
Imaging Center, which will be located in
the new Patient Care Pavilion scheduled
to open in April.
Three generations of Gambinos, along
with their philanthropic friends, also support
an important staff position: a child
life specialist. This certified member of the
hospital team is dedicated to helping children
successfully cope with the psychological
and emotional aspects of their
hospitalization. Using developmentally
appropriate therapeutic techniques, he or
she minimizes the stress associated with
procedures, operations and examinations.
The child life specialist’s presence is
especially critical in the Emergency
Department and prior to surgery, when
anxiety and fear are most common.
The Gambinos’ generosity and
compassion extends into the holiday
season, when on a weekend afternoon,
they turn the CA Technologies Child
and Family Activity Resource Center at
Cohen Children’s Medical Center into
a winter wonderland, with live entertainment
and extraordinary presents
for the patients. Every young child is
discharged with a lasting memory of a
surprisingly wonderful “holiday in the
hospital” experience!
Left to right: Kathy Gambino Arntzen, Dianne Gambino, Ann Marie
DiFrancesca, Lynn Gambino, Frances Gambino and Mary Gambino Rotondi.
Henry Kuykendall, vice president,
Delta Air Lines/JFK, with a young CCMC
patient “in-flight” to the North Pole.
A Magical Day for
CCMC Patients
and Their Families
Delta Air Lines at JFK Airport has raised more
than $500,000 in three years! Waseem
Mian, Jeanne Romanelli Massimillo, John
Barile, Stacey Milonas and Debbie Cepeda represented
the Delta Golf Committee at the latest check presentation
at Citi Field. The Annual Delta Air Lines Golf
Classic raised $200,000 this year benefiting Cohen
Children’s Medical Center. For the third consecutive
year, Delta has brought many friends, colleagues and
vendors together for a successful fund-raising day of
golf at Muttontown Country Club.
In December, Delta Air Lines/JFK, along with MSG’s
Garden of Dreams, hosted the annual Holiday in the
Hangar for our patients. Their magical adventure began
when they entered Delta’s Terminal 2 and were escorted
through security directly to a special “holiday gate”
and onto a festively decorated Boeing 747 destined for
the North Pole. Once onboard, the children were
served snacks by the Radio City Rockettes and sang
holiday songs as they taxied to a distant hangar.
The hangar was transformed into a winter
wonderland with the New York Rangers hockey rink,
New York Knicks basketball games with personal
instruction from John Starks, exciting activities, entertainment,
a delicious lunch and of course, every
child’s favorite celebrity, Santa Claus, presenting gifts
to put into their Delta Air Lines backpacks. This
fun-filled day was a double dose of the best possible
medicine for many of these children, who are coping
with some of the most serious medical challenges.
Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York I 9