The Chemo Circus & Baum School Team Up to Help Kids with Cancer
By Fred Jerant
Undergoing chemotherapy for cancer is stressful. And when the patient is a child, the stress factor can only go up intensifies. Fortunately, an innovative Lehigh Valley-based program is making the burden of cancer treatments a little lighter for pint-sized patients and for their families. as well. After extensive research and preparation, the “Chemo Circus” debuted in January 2008 at the Muhlenberg Pediatric Specialty Center, inside Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest.
“Step right up, ladies and gentlemen…it’s the CHEMO CIRCUS!”
The Chemo Circus is fun, it’s exciting, and it’s all free. Nicole Ronco, executive director of the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley (PCFLV), says “Our organization is always looking for good programs for families, and we got the idea for the Circus from another hospital in the region. We set up the program to help alleviate kids’ fears and anxiety during chemotherapy. They know exactly why they are there, she says; and the needles, medications and general environment can be fear-inducing. Plus, parents and other siblings often come along and must wait through a tedious procedure.”
The Chemo Circus began pretty simply, Ronco explains, with a clown, a massage therapist (on-hand mostly to help Mom and Dad unwind a bit) and a volunteer with an art education background. Over time, activities became more varied, and now the youngsters participate in various crafts, therapy-pet visits, mini “spa treatments,” making balloon animals and even enjoy visits from such celebrities as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue (and his clues) and even a red-suited VIP at Christmastime!
Just a year ago, the Chemo Circus found an additional “Big Top:”the fourth-floor pediatrics unit of Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. Although it’s not strictly a cancer unit, it is a place where many seriously ill kids stay. “We’ll see all the kids on that floor,” Ronco says, and the Circus roams among the 20+ patient rooms.
Ronco notes that the PCFLV likes to use local resources and organizations for these programs, because the contributing groups know what will work and what will engage the kids. One of the latest partners in the Chemo Circus is the Baum School of Art–an Allentown institution for over 80 years.
“Nicole contacted us in March,” says Ann Lalik, the School’s executive director. “After explaining her group’s goals, she asked if the Baum School would be interested in the Chemo Circus program.” Signing-on was an easy decision, because “We like it when someone comes to us with a need,” Lalik says. “That shows they’re ready to start a partnership.”
The School agreed to present a different art project each month, with the emphasis on encouraging the youngsters to express themselves through art, rather than on completing the project every time.
Betsy Moerder, program coordinator and instructor at the Baum School, has used Crayola® Model Magic® for making sculptures, various papers for coloring and drawing, art straws that become relief sculptures and other media. “I want to work with materials that are non-threatening and appealing,” she says. And artistic skill is secondary, “because the process is more important than the product.”
These projects might not qualify as art therapy, but they are therapeutic. “The kids love every second of it,” Moerder says. “They’re always very supportive of each other. And when their hands are busy, their words and feelings are free-flowing.”
Moerder says that The projects are good for the parents as well. “They like being there and seeing their happy, excited kids,” says Moerder. “It’s a big reprieve” from the daily stresses of raising a cancer-stricken child.
Even though the Baum/PCFLV partnership is new, it’s already poised to help raise funds for the Foundation, according to Ronco. “We’ve asked all willing families to have their children create original artworks on canvas. They’ll be auctioned off as part of our ‘Color My World’ fundraiser at the Banana Factory in September, which is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month,” Ronco says. The children’s art will be supported by works donated by local artists for a silent auction.
For more information about the Chemo Circus, or about the PCFLV in general, contact Nicole Ronco at [email protected], or call 610-393-9215. Or visit the group at www.pcflv.org.
