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Florida Residents Benefit From CIGNA Foundation Grant to Help Parents Manage Children's Leukemia Treatments

Posted on: Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 12:01 CDT

CIGNA is teaming up with the Childhood Leukemia Foundation (CLF) to offer CLF's Hope BinderTM free of charge to parents of children with cancer at 160 hospitals nationwide.

The CLF Hope Binder is a tool designed to help parents manage the overwhelming amount of information related to their child's care including worksheets and resources to help document treatment protocols, medicines, doctor's appointments, blood counts, physicians, hospitals, nutrition concerns, and insurance benefits -- all the details that come with facing leukemia. It also includes free telephone calling cards and informational booklets.

The CIGNA Foundation's $75,000 grant to CLF makes it possible for the group to supply 2,200 Hope Binders to more than 160 hospitals nationwide, up from just over 300 Hope Binders distributed in 2007. CIGNA has added a free copy of the video game Re-MissionTM in every Hope Binder. Re-Mission is a tool to help young people better manage their health while undergoing cancer treatment. Research has shown that the game, which was created by the nonprofit organization HopeLab, helps teens and young adults stick to their treatment regimens.

"As the Oncology Social Worker, I meet with every new family who has a child diagnosed with cancer. During this time, I provide counseling to the families, and give each family a Hope Binder," Christen Sakales, an oncology social worker at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, said. "The families are overwhelmed, in shock, and trying desperately to make sense of this life-changing news. The Hope Binders are excellent tools that help parents organize lab results, phone numbers, treatment plans and diagnosis information they are given during this crisis period. The Hope Binders help the parents to manage new information which reduces anxiety, and allows them to feel prepared and move forward. Parents have told me that they never go anywhere without their binder -- they feel that if they have it with them, they are ready for an unexpected hospitalization."

"When the initial diagnosis of cancer is made, parents and caregivers are not equipped to handle and process the flood of information related to their child's care," said Childhood Leukemia Foundation's Executive Director Barbara Reid. "The Hope Binder documents a child's treatment by logging information to help families easily organize information and take it with them whenever it's needed."

"We're pleased to help CLF get many more Hope Binders into the hands of parents to help them in their child's battle with a life-threatening medical condition," said CIGNA national medical director, Dr. Dick Salmon. "We're also glad to be able to add free copies of Re-Mission to Hope Binders. Now, along with giving parents a way to organize information, Hope Binders also offer kids a fun way to learn about, and get a sense of control over cancer."

"We deeply appreciate CIGNA's 'walk the talk' approach to helping individuals, families and communities enhance their health and well-being," Reid said.

HopeLab's Re-Mission video game is also available free to any child suffering from cancer and their families at www.CIGNA.com/re-mission. For more information about HopeLab and Re-Mission, visit www.hopelab.org.

About Childhood Leukemia Foundation

The Childhood Leukemia Foundation is a national non-profit organization that offers a wide range of services at no charge to children living with cancer and their families. Their goal is to make sure children battling cancer know they are not alone. CLF works with over 160 specialized treatment centers, and now serves over 15,000 children each year, age newborn to 21 and represent the full ethnic diversity of our country.

All Children's Hospital is the only freestanding children's hospital on Florida's West Coast and a leader in pediatric treatment, education, research and advocacy. It has consistently ranked among America's top 25 children's hospitals in comparative studies done by Child Magazine, which rated All Children's Hospital as the best in Florida in 2007. The mission of this private, not-for-profit hospital is rooted in its beginnings as Florida's first Crippled Children's Hospital for polio victims. All Children's understands that it's not enough to treat disease -- that true progress comes from teaching and research to cure disease. All Children's shares its pediatric expertise through research & education affiliations with the University of South Florida (USF Health) as well as the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

As a regional referral center for children with some of the most challenging medical problems, All Children's draws patients from throughout Florida, all 50 states and 36 foreign countries. Growing regional demand is such that construction is now underway on a new hospital and outpatient center to replace the current 40-year old facility. When completed in 2009, it will represent nearly a million square feet of space dedicated to state-of-the-art pediatric healthcare.

About CIGNA

As a Business of Caring, CIGNA (NYSE:CI) provides employers with benefits, expertise and services that improve the health, well-being and security of their employees. With approximately 47 million covered lives in the United States and around the world, CIGNA's operating subsidiaries offer a full portfolio of medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy and vision care benefits and group life, accident and disability insurance.

About CIGNA Foundation

CIGNA Foundation is a private foundation funded by contributions from CIGNA Corporation and its subsidiaries. The CIGNA Foundation supports organizations sharing its commitment to enhancing the health of individuals and families, and the well-being of their communities, with a special focus on those communities where CIGNA employees live and work.

Source: Business Wire

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