United Hospice of Rockland (UHR) Children's Memorial Rock Garden Event

WHAT:            United Hospice of Rockland (UHR) Healing Hearts' Memorial Rock Garden Event 

WHEN:            Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 5:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. Rock Garden Event

WHERE:            Hospice Center, 11 Stokum Lane, New City (off South Main Street)

WHO:             Children, ages 4 -18, who are participating in the Healing Hearts program will have an opportunity to "plant" their personalized hand-painted rocks in the United Hospice of Rockland Children's Memorial Rock Garden.  During the ceremony, the children will also have a chance to talk about and memorialize their loved ones.  Their rocks will permanently adorn the rock garden.

WHY            There will be entertainment and refreshments. Families who are participating in the Healing Hearts program and interested community members are invited. (Children who are in the community but who have not participated in the program are welcome to attend, observe the memorial rock planting, and share in the entertainment and refreshments.)

Healing Hearts, a family bereavement program of United Hospice of Rockland (UHR), provides the time and continuity necessary to enable children, teens, and adults to progress at their own pace through grieving and healing.  Designed for children and teens, ages 4 to 18, who have lost a loved one, groups are organized according to the ages of the children and their developmental levels.  A group for surviving parents or guardians is held concurrently. Grief support groups are held on an ongoing basis during the school calendar year and are facilitated by the program coordinator, certified social workers and trained volunteers. In view of the difference in intensity and duration of grief for each individual and family, children and teens may choose when to start and when to stop attending. The average length of attending groups is one year but it varies greatly from a few sessions to 2-3 years.  

Healing Hearts is funded in part by: A Little HOPE, Inc., Athelstane Lodge #839 F& A.M. of Pearl River, NY, and Reinisch Foundation. UHR support groups and bereavement programs are held in the Provident Bank Hope & Healing Center, 11 Stokum Lane (off South Main Street), New City and are supported in part by The Jeffrey David Walerstein Fund for Bereavement. Anyone who knows of a child or family who might benefit from this program is urged to call Sharami Kerr, Ph.D. coordinator of the Healing Hearts Program, at (845) 634-4974.

A Little HOPE, The National Foundation for Grieving Children Teens and Families, helps provide grief counseling and bereavement support services to children and teens who have experienced the loss of a parent or a loved one, regardless of the circumstances of the death.” A Little HOPE, Inc. a not for profit, publicly supported charitable foundation was founded in early 2002, as a personal response to the World Trade Center tragedy by Whitney Siderman Michaels. Whitney was on her honeymoon with her husband Evan on September 1l, 200l, far from her desk on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Most of the people with whom she worked died during the attacks. As she attended numerous memorial services, she witnessed many bereaved children now having to face a new reality – life without their mother or father – and wanted to find a way to offer them hope for the future. As a tribute to her friends who perished, Whitney and her husband Evan Michaels founded A Little Hope. For more information: www.alittlehope.org

United Hospice of Rockland (UHR) serves as a community resource for bereavement support, palliative care, and information about end of life issues, leading the health and human services community in improving the provision of care to those affected by serious illness. Founded in 1988, United Hospice of Rockland is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and meets the Standards for Charity Accountability of the Better Business Bureau, Inc.  UHR's mission is to enable patients with advanced illnesses to live in comfort, with dignity, and surrounded by those they love. When time matters most, UHR provides care, comfort and improved quality of life to individuals and their families and offers compassionate support to members of the community who have experienced the loss of a loved one.  For more information, call 845 634-4974, write to United Hospice of Rockland, 11 Stokum Lane, New City, NY 10956, visitwww.hospiceofrockland.org or fax to 845 634-7549.