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Source: Janet Basu
415-476-2557
27 November 2000
UCSF Children's Medical Center names bravekids.org resource center
The Children's Medical Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will dedicate its family resource center as the BraveKids.org Resource Center at a reception at 1:30 pm on Tuesday, November 28, at UCSF Medical Center. The center will receive computers, books, toys and other support materials from San Francisco-based BraveKids, a non-profit organization founded to help children with chronic or life threatening illnesses and their families.
Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia will attend the dedication event. An early supporter of BraveKids, Gannon called the UCSF/BraveKids alliance "heartening and affirming" noting the importance of having "a valuable resource like this, right here in our community."
The BraveKids.org Family Resource Center is one of many ways that the UCSF children's medical-center-within-a-medical-center helps children, parents and their families cope with serious illness. "By donating these computers and other materials, BraveKids helps our families keep in touch with the world," said Inez Wieging, RN, pediatric patient care manager. "With added access to the BraveKids.org directory of resources in their home communities, parents and social workers can plan to meet children's special needs when they return home."
"More than 2.5 million seriously ill children are admitted to hospitals nationally each year. When we started BraveKids in June of last year, we knew that we were going to be helping these children and their families," said Brave Kids founder and executive director, Kristen Fitzgerald. "It is very exciting and affirming to open our first BraveKids.org Resource Center right here at the Children's Medical Center at UCSF."
"The reception to the site has been terrific," Fitzgerald reported. "We're hearing good things every day from kids, their families and their doctors."
BraveKids launched its Web site www.bravekids.org in March of this year as an Internet community for seriously ill children, their families, and their health care workers. Fitzgerald said that Brave Kids' unique feature is the comprehensive support provided online, through a complete children's section, a resource directory for health care professionals and parents, chat rooms, relevant medical information from healthcare professionals, a community chat room, interactive contests and an online store for children with special needs. Brave Kids also provides computers to seriously ill children from low income families through its corporate donation program.
The 49ers' Garcia, who teamed up with Gannon as a second national spokesperson said, "I think it is great that BraveKids.org provides this kind of support to ill children and their families. I am particularly excited that the site is accessible in Spanish - the Hispanic community is too often overlooked." The Spanish version of www.bravekids.org was launched November 1, 2000.
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