Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care

Your gift will help children and families receive vital supportive services and resilience programs.

Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered provides support services and resilience programs, family partnership programs, and safety and quality initiatives that advance the health and wellbeing of children and families at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone and beyond. 

Sala designs, promotes, and funds new programs to support children, families, and staff. All programs are created through a proven process that includes: 

  • engaging with children and their families to understand their physical and emotional needs during times of complex or chronic illness
  • partnering with patients and families to create tools and strategies for addressing those needs
  • sharing the resources and tools at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital and beyond

In collaboration with frontline healthcare providers, patients, and families, Sala Institute leads the following programs and services:

  • Sala Child and Family Support Services and Resilience Programs, including child life, creative arts therapies, integrative behavioral health, integrative medicine, nutrition, pain management, palliative care, social work, and spiritual support
  • Sala Family Partnership Programs, which influence patient experience through our Family Advisory Council, Youth Advisory Council, and Patient and Family Faculty Program
  • Sala Patient Safety and Quality Programs

The institute's vision, research, and education fosters child- and family-centered care, an approach to care that brings together expert medical treatment with emotional care for a child and their family. At Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, we believe the best way to care for children is when patients, families, and healthcare professionals work together as a team. This teamwork creates care that is completely customized for the child.  

With your support, you’ll become part of a community helping to advance the practice of child- and family-centered care.

 

It’s amazing how much a simple thing like giving kids a toy to entertain them while they’re in the hospital can do for their health. It’s all about helping our patients just be kids again.

Frances Clemente, MS, CCLS - Social Worker; Coordinator, "Connect the Dots" Program

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My time working with the Sala Institute really changed me. I want to do for other kids and families what the people from the Sala Institute did for me.

Sara Damour - Member, Sala Youth Advisory Council 

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I’m amazed by how much change the Sala Institute has made possible, and how much is still in store. We’re at the beginning of what the Sala Institute can be.

Howard Ginsberg, MD - Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Hassenfeld Children's Hospital

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Supporter Impact

Sofia was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after her third birthday. When you're given that diagnosis, it's not something you can explain to somebody. Your world gets rocked. You feel like you're in a bubble, and the only place you feel safe is here.

Elly Blankenbuehler, Mother of Sofia Blankenbuehler

Why We Give

Sala is named after my mother, Sala Elbaum—and I could not think of a better tribute to her. When a child gets sick, the family’s world gets turned upside down. Sala is a way of reaching out to that child and family, of providing help—of offering everything they need.

Trudy Elbaum Gottesman, a Sala supporter, on Sala’s legacy and impact

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