St. Mary's Telehealth Program Making Strides to Improve Outcomes in Home Care 

St. Mary’s has been awarded a $928,668 grant to improve care for children who receive services at home through the implementation of an innovative remote patient monitoring program, also referred to as our Telehealth program.  The grant, funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and awarded by the New York State Department of Health, enables St. Mary’s to deploy an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) program, with the three-fold goal of reducing avoidable hospitalizations, increasing medication adherence, and increasing overall patient/family satisfaction.

In addition to receiving traditional nursing and rehabilitation home care visits, enrolled families now receive regular automated calls from an IVR system inquiring about the child’s medication adherence, falls, emergency room visits, occurrences of major medical events, and other changes in condition. Any responses out of the norm immediately alert a Telehealth Nurse who can jump into action. This grant will allow St. Mary’s to supplement our existing programs to enable at risk children to remain at home with their families. Read more about our telehealth program in these news articles from MedCity News, Queens Chronicle and on Health IT Outcomes.       

Spirit of Children Raises $87,700 in Support of St. Mary’s Kids  

St. Mary’s Hospital for Children recently received a generous donation of $87,700 from the Spirit of Children program by Spirit Halloween — the country’s leading seasonal Halloween retailer. This donation is the largest to date that the program has donated to St. Mary’s Kids.

Spirit Halloween raises funds for St. Mary’s through an in-store fundraising initiative. Customers who purchase costumes and Halloween décor at local Spirit Halloween locations are given an opportunity to donate to St. Mary’s. One hundred percent of the funds collected in the stores last Halloween went to St. Mary’s. We would like to extend our appreciation to the Spirit of Children program for their generous annual gift and for bringing the joys of Halloween to our Kids.  Read more»

Polished Girlz and Celebrity Manicurists Uplift Spirits at St. Mary's for Valentine's Day

It was manicure mania at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children on Valentine’s Day when a troop of nail art volunteers from the Polished Girlz organization, including celebrity nail artists Tom Bachik and Mr. Luis came for a visit. The Polished Girlz is a national non-profit organization founded by 15 year old Alanna Wall that hosts nail polish parties for girls with special needs and those who are hospitalized. Groups of local volunteers visit hospitals to offer patients a first-class manicure experience, which includes a glitzy nail painting session as well as a tutorial on the importance of hand washing to reduce infection. As a parting gift, the volunteers allowed St. Mary’s Kids to keep the bottle of nail polish used to paint their nails.

Alanna explains that she chose to offer St. Mary’s a Polished Girlz session after meeting multi-faceted entertainer and Board Director for St. Mary’s, Nick Cannon at the 2014 Nickelodeon HALO (Helping And Leading Others) Awards. Currently her organization has over 800 volunteers across 37 states and Canada. St. Mary’s Kids are looking forward to their next visit. Read more»

Farm-to-Table Program Hosts Cooking Class with Fiamma 41 & Pix 11's Mr. G 

St. Mary’s Kids cooked up a grand feast recently at a special Farm-to-Table cooking class with some very special guests. Frank Tramontano, General Manager of Fiammi 41 - a local restaurant in Bayside - and Fiamma 41's Chef Alex taught the children how to make a nutritious (and delicious) lunch of fresh vegetable salad with made-from-scratch dressing and fresh pasta caprese. Pix 11 News’ Mr. G also joined the class and offered his culinary expertise and humor to the kids.

St. Mary’s cooking classes are an engaging, fun, and strategic way to get our children excited about nutritious eating.  All of our classes are hands-on, interactive, and tailored to meet the varying abilities of our children. See photos from the cooking class on our Facebook Album»