Childrens' Medical Issues
Monday, November 12, 2007
One of the major goals of the Honors College is to bring to light the various issues that affect children worldwide. On Monday, November 12, 2007, forty-nine Honors College students listened to two presentations on children’s medical issues by the Making Headway Foundation and the Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society. This event was co-sponsored with the UNICEF C.H.I.L.D. Project and the Golden Key International Honor Society.
The first speaker represented Making Headway, an organization dedicated to the care, comfort, and cure for children with spinal cord and brain tumors. Edward Manley, Founder and President of Making Headway which is based in Westchester county, spoke about providing support to children and their families as they undergo the fear, anxiety, and stress of hospitalization, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Making Headway does this through the many programs they fund at the New York University Medical Center to make the hospital stay more comfortable by providing activities for the children and families. These programs enhance the excellent medical care provided by the doctors, nurses, and staff. Once a child returns home and the family tries to resume a more “normal” life, the Ongoing Care Program through Making Headway offers free-of-charge counseling, support groups, and education remediation services.
The Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society (XPS), the second organization represented serves people with light-sensitive disorders. Caren Mahar, Founder of the XPS and Camp Sundown, spoke about children all over the globe suffering from, and dying of, Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP). Due to lack of knowledge and medical care, children are severely affected by this disease and some have neither the medical nor financial resources to alleviate their situation. Most will not live to adulthood and, in most cases, XP is only one of their challenges to survive. Ms. Mahar spoke about her own personal story of having a child with XP.
Both organizations encouraged all Honors students to become involved through volunteerism.
