SUGGESTIONS/LIST OF WAYS YOU CAN HELP FAMILIES WHO HAVE CRITICALLY OR TERMINALLY ILL CHILDREN
Ellen Kaplan-Crawford
05/03/05

If you want to help but do not know what you can do, consider the following suggestions: [We welcome additional suggestions from our readers email us ]

1. Bring over a nicely packaged meal/meals or order them so that they can be refrigerated and eaten when desired
2. pick up/purchase items that are needed at the hospital so that the parent can stay with the child
3. take care of/babysit the sibling or let the sibling sleep over your house, read to them/take them out or to the movies
4. maintain a list of telephone numbers of friends/family and offer to be the one that calls/emails with messages
5. offer to stay over night with the child (at home/the hospital)and give the parents a break
6. offer to take care of daily tasks, i.e., food shopping, clean the home and/or mow the lawn
7. sit with the family/visit the family at the hospital…bring books, magazines, food/snacks, music and something to play it on
8. purchase meal tickets/parking tickets at the hospital for the family
9. purchase telephone cards so that the family can easily make long distance telephone calls
10. speak to the social worker at the hospital and learn if the hospital has a toll free (800) telephone number, offers free meal tickets or parking tickets for the family
11. undertake to find a hotel in the vicinity of the hospital which offers a discounted rate to families whose children are in the hospital
12. pack a gift basket of books, magazines, videos, toys, pictures, funny things/emails, coloring books, markers/crayons, snacks, etc., for the child
13. offer yourself as someone who can be called at any hour of the day or night to provide assistance if the family needs to go to the hospital unexpectedly (to take the siblings, drive, etc.)
14. call the child and family regularly in the hospital but don’t call too early or too late…tell a joke/make them laugh
15. coordinate information for friends, family and schoolmates, offer to bring in assignments from school for the child
16. offer to coordinate blood drives to have direct donated volunteer blood available if needed
17. have someone who plays a musical instrument come and play for the child
18. solicit gift certificates from local restaurants, from gasoline stations, grocery store, toy store, drug store
19. try to get tickets for the patient/family for basketball, football, hockey or other sporting event
20. give movie tickets for the patient and family so they can plan a special outing
21. try to borrow or get donated a laptop computer for the child so that the child has access to emails
22. pick up the latest gameboy game or other hand held electronic game or music player for the child