CURE Childhood Cancer Association was founded in 1976 by a group of parents who lost a child to cancer. At that time, parents were not permitted to spend the night in the hospital room with their child and were not involved with the care and treatment discussions about their children. Advocacy for the parent of an pediatric oncology patient was made a priority by the CURE Founders and remains a priority 40 years later. CURE currently employs two Parent Advocates who are at Golisano Children’s Hospital and meet with every in-patient family every weekday. They also meet with the patients in the clinic area, offering parking passes to alleviate that burden from every single family being treated for pediatric cancer or chronic blood disorder. CURE has been an innovator with our Parent Advocate concept, acting as a model to many organizations across the United States.
CURE stands for Counseling Understanding Research/Resources and Education. We provide programs and services to our families to reflect these core values. Pediatric oncology and blood disorder patients cope with many issues and stressors, we do not want school to be one of them. Because our children may be immune-compromised or, bluntly, too sick to attend school, they may fall behind in their studies. We don’t want our kids to have to struggle in the classroom in addition to their health, so we provide free tutoring through the Boost Tutors program. Boost was created by a bereaved CURE grandmother who wanted to carry on her grandson’s legacy through helping children battling diseases. Volunteers tutor our kids to ensure they stay up-to-date with their schooling. Additionally, oftentimes, treatments for cancer can affect children and their learning abilities. Our tutors help alleviate this issue by providing additional assistance to our kids.
Last year, we saved families over $60,000 in parking fees at
the hospital, helped families attend important medical appointments with the
help of over $400 in gas gift cards, provided families with over $5,000
in funeral assistance and ensured the family had food through providing $2,000
in food gift cards. These are just a small handful of the services we provide
for our families. Additionally, 86 cents for every dollar donated goes directly
into programs and services for our families.