Thursday, January 26, 2006
Young cancer patients often miss school, sometimes for a year or more.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An arts and reading festival for children and teens with cancer and sickle cell disease at Tod Children's Hospital Wednesday was the first major project of the Tod Learning Community.
The Tod Learning Community, or TLC as it's known, springs from the vision of the Jessica Moorhead Foundation for Hope, formed in 2003 in memory of Jessica Lynn Moorhead, who died at age 16 after a four-year battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia.
It is a nonprofit organization focused on the needs of patients in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Program at Tod Children's Hospital. With financial support from the SBC Foundation and the Jessica Moorhead Foundation for Hope, TLC plans to use technology to connect patients with knowledge, said Deborah Vrable, TLC project director.
"A lot of our ideas ... a lot of what we do ... came from Jessica," Vrable said.Vrable said TLC's focus this year is to use a SBC Excelerator grant of $22,800 to buy notebook and tablet computers and software that patients can use to create their own Web pages,
In the long term, she said, TLC would like to have video conference capabilities with the kids' classrooms.Ideas sought
Vrable said TLC is seeking ideas for links, such as good education sites and special interests, that the kids can put on their Web pages. She said TLC will rely on educators and community organizations to mentor and provide hands-on learning experiences that will keep the patients' love of learning energized.
"Young cancer patients often miss school during their treatment and sometimes must stay away from their classrooms for a year or more due to low immunity," said Jenifer Moorhead, the foundation's executive director and Jessica's mother.
"Although tutors from their local schools work hard to help them keep pace with their peers, patients who have to spend much of their time in a clinical or hospital setting sometimes miss the rich stimulation, learning resources, and social interaction found in school. I'm grateful to AT & amp;T for helping us make patients' learning more exciting," Moorhead said.
Patients who attended Wednesday's festival participated in an interactive drama lesson, provided by Cardinal Mooney High School drama teacher Diane Mastronard and her students; a drum circle led by Nathan Douds of the SMARTS Center (YSU's Students Motivated by the ARTS community outreach program); a readers' theater, and other activities such as creative writing, music, and visual arts experiences.
Moorhead co-founded the Jessica Moorhead Foundation for Hope with Tod Medical Director Dr. Ayman Saleh, who was Jessica's physician.
For more information about the foundation's activities, see www.jessicafoundationforhope.orgor call (330) 799-0578.