Starlight Children’s Foundation Announces Grant in Support of Music Therapy Program at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children
On Wednesday, March 25th, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall joined members of the Starlight Children’s Foundation at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, to announce a $30,000 grant from Starlight in support of St. Mary’s Music Therapy Program, part of the Healthcare System’s comprehensive rehabilitation program for children recovering from serious injury or illness.
The grant announcement came on the heels of St. Mary’s month-long campaign to promote brain injury awareness and prevention in the community, which included car seat fitting stations, a bike helmet giveaway, professional lectures and speaking engagements, and prevention materials for metro area schools. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in children 14 and under result in 400,000 emergency room visits, 29,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths each year in the United States.
St. Mary’s, one of the region’s largest providers of intensive rehabilitation, education, and specialized care for children with special needs, cares for patients recovering from head injury in the facility’s Traumatic Brain Injury Program, the first of its kind in New York, and utilizes music therapy as in integral part of rehabilitation for children who have suffered serious injury, chronic illness, and/or complications of premature birth.
Patty Primiano, Music Therapist at St. Mary’s, demonstrated the impact music has on a child’s recovery by showcasing interactive treatment techniques with the assistance of the children, the Borough President, the Starlight Foundation, St. Mary’s staff and leadership and a host of instruments.
Music therapy is used in conjunction with occupational, speech, and physical therapy at St. Mary’s to aid in recovery. Music therapy has been found to help with respiration, chronic pain, physical rehabilitation, diabetes, and cardiac conditions, among others.
About Starlight Children’s Foundation
Starlight helps seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. For more information, visit www.starlight-newyork.org
