ASK Increases Support for Families

We know that a child’s cancer diagnosis affects the entire family unit.  Everything else is put on hold while a child goes through treatment, and established family routines often come to a halt. That’s why ASK added a new Family Support Coordinator this year to add an additional layer of personalized support for our families.
 
Mary Jo Bell recently joined the ASK staff in this new position. She considers herself a helping hand to families during a time of stress and uncertainty. Mary Jo said “the essence of my job is focused on heart work with individual families. Heart work involves being an active listener and identifying the unmet needs or stressors impacting each family. I customize my work with each family to help support the entire family unit. My main goal each day is to provide practical support to families, and to remind them that they are not alone.”  
 
 Mary Jo has worked with children in a variety of settings as certified teacher, a volunteer teacher in Ghana, West Africa, and a long-term volunteer with two major hospital systems in Virginia. She also brings a special understanding about the needs of caregivers because she was long-term caregiver for many years.

Mary Jo is reaching out to our newly-diagnosed families to offer support through phone calls, cards, personalized care packages, and gift cards. We anticipate that she will be offering meal and house cleaning support to newly-diagnosed families, too, in the coming months.
 
While children are in-patient at the hospital, Mary Jo can provide in-hospital respite. Respite care offers caregivers an opportunity to leave the hospital for few hours to allow them to rest and focus on personal care. Mary Jo loves spending time with the children at the hospital, and she has enjoyed making her respite visits a special time for each hospitalized child.
 
In addition to services for ASK kids and their caregivers, Mary Jo is adding to our sibling support by hosting sibling-only events, including the Sibling Ceramics Party on the 24th (see below for details!). Siblings experience their own unique cancer journey, and we want to remind them that they have their own community, too.
 
We look forward to updating you on our family support services as they grow.

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