$590K in expenses

To create substantial funds to support the health care-related needs of children and their families. The following programs received CHA grant funding in 2024 totaling $500,111:midwest children's resource center (MCRC) ($78,000) for nearly 40 years, midwest children's resource center (MCRC) has consistently worked to address the needs of children and families who have experienced abuse and/or neglect. MCRC provides comprehensive care in response to those who have experienced maltreatment that minimizes trauma and maximizes opportunity for healing and recoverychild life in the emergency department ($60,000) children today confront a wide variety of stressful and potentially traumatic events that may overwhelm their natural ability to cope and heal. Child life specialists in the emergency room are trained professionals with expertise in helping children and their families navigate, understand, discuss, and overcome life's most challenging events. Caregiver simulation program ($35,000) to ease the burden and anxiety on families needing to provide complex medical care at home, the caregiver simulation program gives caregivers the opportunity to learn and practice integrative care on mannequins in a safe environment. Over the past 5 years, the caregiver simulation program has offered simulations to families experiencing complex cardiac conditions and those caring for children with feeding tubes or tracheostomy tubes. With access to hands-on practice, the goal is to increase caregiver's self-confidence and alleviate anxiety, promoting family success at home as they re-integrate into home, work, and school. Runaway intervention program ($20,000) the runaway intervention program provides one-on-one support to youth who have experienced high risk events such as running from home, truancy, sexual abuse and/or exploitation. Nurse practitioners and therapists connect with youth in the home and community to address their individual health needs, as well as connecting youth to family, schools and community resources.audiology implementing cortical auditory evoke potentials ($35,000) traditionally, children must wait until they are over 6-months olds to complete behavioral testing to determine candidacy for any hearing amplification aid. With CHA's funding, the audiology department will purchase equipment to provide cortical auditory evoke potential (caep) testing to younger patients (infants and toddlers). The new equipment provides the ability to test children's hearing frequency at an earlier age and quickly determines candidacy for cochlear implants. Knowing a child is unable to hear at certain sound threshold rules out any possible benefit with traditional hearing AIDS and makes the move towards cochlear implantation an easier one for families. Children's minnesota community connect ($15,000) what happens outside the healthcare setting at a child's home, in their school, and in their community has the greatest impact on a child's health. Embedded in the clinical setting, community connect proactively works with families to identify opportunities to improve health, streamline connections to resources, and coordinate supportive follow-up with families and community partners.music therapy program ($50,000) music therapy provides a unique way to alleviate pain and anxiety and maximize expressions and coping skills in children receiving care at children's minnesota. Music therapists work with medical teams to meet patient treatment goals through applied musical interventions to reestablish a non-threatening, supportive environment. Music therapist service patients ranging from newborn to young adults regardless of their levels of engagement, responsiveness, or developmental abilities.star studio keeping the stars in alignment ($67,783) star studio aims to ensure that every child can experience joy and normalcy, regardless of their health challenges. CHA's funding will assist in maintaining production and delivery of high-quality educational content, expanding equipment to produce more engaging content, and amplifying representation on the channel to be more reflecting of the diverse backgrounds of patients and families at children's minnesota.outpatient mental health services ($50,000) the outpatient mental health services enables the psychological services department at children's minnesota to provide mental health services to children and families regardless of income or insurance coverage. CHA's funding will assist in continuing to provide mental health care, collaborating with providers to work with families across the mental health continuum and creating and building out spaces that are inclusive.first steps program ($13,000) first steps is a child abuse prevention program and parenting support program for young parents (normally, 19 years old or under). This program focuses on promoting a healthy family model to young parents through parenting education, peer-to-peer support, and sharing resources and information on topics like community resources, early childhood development, literacy and reading enrichment, developing confidence and strong parenting skills, stress management techniques, and how to play with your baby.child life associate ($10,000) the child life zone is a unique state-of-the art therapeutic play area that supports patient and family needs for activity, interaction, exploration, and relaxation. This environment provides children and teens with a place to connect with others and explore healing therapies. CHA's funding will go toward staffing the child life zone with trained professionals (whom have a background in education in child development and/or related fields). Their role helps improve patient and family care, minimize psychological stress and trauma, and increase understanding and coping.children's cleft care package ($6,328) the cleft care package is a reusable children's minnesota bag, stocked with materials for newborns with cleft lip and/or palate, distributed at no cost to families upon establishing care at children's minnesota. Materials in the bag are specialized items that significantly aid in recovery, feeding and feeding transitions, and social and emotional learning and bonding. The package provides necessary resources for the first year of life and begins the care journey in a positive direction. Genetic testing equity and accessibility project ($50,000)the genetic testing equity and accessibility project increases access to genetic testing to a larger population of patients and families, fostering a more inclusive patient experience. CHA's funding will be used to waive the $40/person collection fee for non-patient buccal samples collected in clinic. The ability to collect samples from family members is often vital to understanding a patient's diagnosis and provides important information about health and heritability to the extended family. By providing this service, many individuals who would otherwise not have access to genetic testing are given the chance to gain knowledge of their own health.patient/caregiver educator ($10,000)the patient/caregiver educator works collaboratively with the bedside nurse, attending physician, and other disciplines to provide and coordinate the education needs of the families of medically complex populations at children's minnesota. This person assists in updating and developing resources on medications, treatments, equipment operation, coping with chronic illness, and other related topics, to help decrease the stress of navigating hospitals stay and caring for a child with medical complexities.