GEORGE MARK CHILDRENS FUND

Our goals at George Mark are to provide the medical care and psychosocial support needed to enable children facing life-limiting illnesses to live their lives to the fullest and to empower families to successfully manage this profound challenge. George Mark serves medically eligible children, ages 0-24, at no charge to their families.

By taking a unique approach to pediatric palliative care, George Mark promotes greater health, well-being and quality of life for both the child and family, for as long as possible, and often well beyond the generally accepted prognosis. This integrated and holistic approach brings critical medical and psychosocial care to families during an incredibly challenging time of their lives and results in exceptional patient and family health and quality of life outcomes.

The pediatric palliative care program at George Mark encompasses the following types of care:
• Respite Care – For parents and primary caregivers of children with serious illness, George Mark provides a safe, nurturing place for them to bring their child for short-term care. By providing caregivers with temporary relief, George Mark supports the health of the primary caregiver as well as the well-being of the entire family. Respite care at George Mark also provides positive experiences for child patients by supporting them to engage independently of their families with George Mark staff and volunteers and other patients.
• End of Life Care and Support – For children nearing the end of life, George Mark provides palliative care to minimize their pain and provides their families and loved ones with emotional, spiritual and practical support during this challenging time.
Transitional Care - To equip families and caregivers with the skills they need to effectively manage their child's long-term medical care needs after discharge from an acute care hospital stay. During the child's and families' stay for transitional care, George Mark provides the child with needed medical care and psychosocial support, while educating the family and caregivers to recognize and respond to health needs as they arise. George Mark staff also works with families to help them understand how to operate special equipment and provide needed treatments at home. By training the family to proactively manage their child's health, the child's health is stabilized and the need for repeat or prolonged hospitalizations is minimized.
• Bereavement Support - Recognizing that families grieving the death of a child benefit by receiving long-term support, George Mark offers an ongoing Bereavement Program for all families that have ever received services at George Mark. By offering families long-term and multi-faceted emotional and practical support prior to and following the death of their child, the George Mark Bereavement Program supports and encourages family members to recognize the normalcy of their feelings, to grieve in ways that are personally healing and to move ahead with their lives by integrating the loss of a child in a way that supports the family and honors the memory of the child.

George Mark's Pediatric Palliative Care Program seeks to maximize the health and quality of life for children facing life limiting illness, and to support and empower families to effectively manage this profound challenge. To achieve this, George Mark offers a full range of sub-acute medical care and psychosocial services by a highly trained, interdisciplinary professional staff. All services are offered on-site, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year in a warm, inclusive, home-like setting.

Individualized case management and coordination of services is conducted by an interdisciplinary team that includes a Medical Director, Nurse Case Manager, Registered Nurse, Licensed Vocational Nurse, Certified Nurse Assistant, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Child Life Specialist, and Psychologist. Together, this interdisciplinary team provides the therapeutic insight, guidance and recommendations from a medical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual perspective to develop a personalized care plan for every child and family in alignment with their goals and cultural values.

George Mark could not operate without the added support of our Volunteer Program, which recruits, trains and supports over 200 volunteers each year to volunteer directly with patients and families, and provide kitchen assistance and administrative support. In all, volunteers provided over 6,000 hours of unpaid support to George Mark during FY 2020/21.

1. GOAL: Provide medical care and support services to a minimum of 100 severely ill children. OUTCOME: In FY 20/21 George Mark met its goal by achieving 157 admissions of children with life limiting illness. The average patient length of stay was 7.75 days, and varied from one to 64 days. We served 66 patients in the last fiscal year, many of whom stayed with us multiple times during the year.
2. GOAL: Achieve an average daily census of 4 patients. OUTCOME: In FY 20/21, George Mark provided a total of 1,267 patient care days, for an average daily patient census of 3.5 patients per day. Our health and safety record during the Pandemic has been excellent, with no transmission between or among patients or staff. Parents' confidence in the safety of our programs continues to grow, and our 20/21 census increased from the previous year.
3. GOAL: Provide education and psychosocial support services to 300 family members. OUTCOME: In FY 20/21 George Mark provided direct support services, including Child Life, Counseling, and Bereavement Support to over 300 family members;
4. GOAL: Provide pediatric palliative care education to physicians and medical and nursing students. OUTCOME: Interest in our model of pediatric palliative medicine remains very strong. In FY 20/21, George Mark adapted our educational programming to offer presentations and virtual tours to nursing students, medical residents, and fellows in the practice of pediatric palliative care;
5. GOAL: Provide opportunities for 150 individuals to engage in meaningful volunteer service.
OUTCOME: The George Mark volunteer program continues to thrive. In all, over 160 individuals and 25 groups provided over 7,900 hours of volunteer service to George Mark during FY 20/21;
6. GOAL: Earn the highest satisfaction rating from 90% or greater of patient families. OUTCOME: In FY 20/21, 97% of families gave George Mark the highest possible satisfaction rating for our medical care, and 100% would highly recommend George Mark to other children with life-limiting illnesses and their families;
7. GOAL: Obtain a minimum of 15% of operating income from private insurance and Medi-Cal reimbursements. OUTCOME: In FY 20/21, we met our earned income goal of 15%. We revised our goal of earned income last year in anticipation that our patient census and reimbursements would be lower because of the ongoing effects of the Pandemic.