Fall 2010

Angela’s House helps coordinate the complex array of services needed to support families so that they may care for their mentally frail children at home. Angela’s House offers a home-away –from-home option for medically frail children when they cannot live at home. We understand the day-to-day, year-to-year support  is very important for the well being of the children and their families.

Caring  for Medically Frail Children at Home

My name is Myrna and I am a single parent with two children ages nine and twelve. My older son, Brandon, has Down’s Syndrome, asthma, diabetes, collapsible epiglottis, hypertension and chronic otitis media. We came to New York to find out why Brandon’s oxygen saturation tends to drop and he stops breathing. Doctors we saw in Florida kept telling me that is was due to his tongue being enormous because of the structure of his mouth. While I was getting opinions from doctors, feeding my family and staying in a hotel, my funds that I saved up ran out. I was trying to get a one bedroom or studio apartment temporarily until I was able to get a job as a Medical Assistant/Coder. No landlord wanted to rent to me because they didn’t accept children, I had no job or too many people for a studio. So I went to Nassau County Social Services for help with referrals for housing, childcare and food. My life took a turn for the worst when we were placed in shelters where we had to leave every morning in the rain or heat. I had trouble with food stamps and funds to put gas in my car to take my son to doctor’s appointments. I couldn’t get anyone to help me which put me in a catch 22 situation where my only option would be to place my son in foster care. It’s been a nightmare for two years in shelters but I wouldn’t lose hope because of my family. I had sacrificed my plans for a career as a doctor and my life for Brandon since the day he was born with health conditions. I held on with a lot of crying, praying and faith in God that things will get better. This is when Angela’s House came into our lives. Please don’t ever give up on our special needs children. A mother’s prayer!!!

Plans for Angela’s House III

The plans for Angela’s House III are moving forward. A notification has been sent to the Town of our intention to build this home in Stony Brook close to the hospital. Thankfully, in the past, our homes have been very well received by the community. To ensure this, we do everything we can to build a beautiful home that is meticulously landscaped with great curb appeal. Our plan is to get our budget approved first so that we can feel comfortable beginning construction. In the meantime, the families waiting to place their children here are very anxious. Bob Policastro, Executive Director, stated that

“It is very sad that we have some of these children living in New Jersey because there are no local opportunities for them. These families are suffering the hardship of being separated from their children.”

One of the biggest challenges to the project will be the estimated large cost over runs of a quarter million dollars to build this home. This challenge is heightened as we have seen the private foundations and grants we were able to get additional funding from with our first two homes are not available. However, we will not let this discourage us for we will continue to build the best home possible. It is our goal to make this home completely wheelchair accessible with all the necessary medical supplies and equipment to safely accommodate the needs of each child. This home will be more advanced that our previous homes as we will have an oxygen system in each room so that we can care for ventilator dependent children. We will do everything we can to make a warm loving home environment for these children. We will have a comfortable living room, warm wood floors and moldings, a sky lit den and personally decorated bedrooms each with a beautiful painted wall mural. There will be an outdoor patio that will overlook a playground area that will be used by both the medically fragile children and their visiting siblings.

Thanks To Our Supporters

Message from the Executive Director Bob Policastro

There is a great question that many people ask of me. How do I or our great dedicated employees bear to see the despair and pain of or families. First, the families we meet are wonderful and they are our inspiration. For someone to understand how we do it, they need to understand that out agency’s foundation was based on parents creating our nonprofit and its mission. This puts us in a situation where we understand what the parents are going through and it is out burning desire to help. We realize that we may not have the ability to change what has happened to the children we service, but we can try and make the things a little easier for their parents and siblings. This philosophy is what drives us everyday and this responsibility puts great pressure on us. It pushes me to find funding and support to help pay for equipment and supplies that cannot be funded by other means. It pushes me to educate our community about Angela’s House and medically fragile children. It pushes me to advocate to fill in the gaps in services we still see after 20 years. It is taking too long to fill these gaps. One such gap is our effort, which still continues, to build Angela’s house III. This new home will be a great alternative for the families that will need this support. We are on a committee to help fill another great void in Suffolk Country. This hospital will help to bring in more specialists and options for the medical care our children need locally versus going out-of-state. One of the other voids in our system is the short term / step down help for our families need once the children come out of the acute care hospital environment. A story we often hear is about a Long Island child that has stabilized in the hospital but is not ready to go home yet, and one of the closest facilities to care for their child is in Westchester. We are also in need of a respite home that can offer parents temporary care of their medically fragile children so that they could get a break. These efforts are just a few examples of the everyday work we do in the community to help children with special health care needs that are medically fragile, chronically ill or living with a life-threatening illness.  Thank you for all your support.

All Star Kids help Angela’s House

These kids went above and beyond to take on great initiatives to raise funds to purchase medical supplies and equipment that could not be cover by other means.

Candlelight Ceremony December 4,2010 4pm,Eisenhower Park For all families that have lose a child

Angela’s House Golf Outing

We had a great golf outing at Indian Hills Golf on June 14^th. This beautiful course in Northport was in great condition with its signature holes overlooking the water. Our guests were treated to a great day of golf. We had great gifts, food, drinks, raffles and several fun contests. Many thanks to our main sponsor Capital One. Our other support came from Horan Martello and Morrone, SJS Construction, Empire National Bank, Nutech HealthCare Management and the Tom Collings*Chris Panatier 9/11 Memorial Foundation.

Your Gifts Make a Difference

Angela’s House uses public programs, grants and donations to assist families caring for their children with special health care needs that are medically fragile, chronically ill or living with a life threatening illness. Your donations and assistance with fund raising allows us to ease the financial burdens our families experience with the day-to-day care needed to support these children. These funds are very important especially for children first identified to us that need help right away but often must wait months to get assistance through public programs. We use these funds to purchase medical supplies, medical case, therapeutic equipment, and other items not covered by insurance. Below are a few of the families and children we have helped.

Donations in Honor of

• Kyle Gaunauy
• Terri Daley
• Christopher Cannone

Donations in Lieu of Flowers

In a time of grieving, this family displayed great generosity, by requesting donations be made to Angela’s house in lieu of flowers

• Micheal Demuccio
• Antonella DiGiovanni

A donation was made in lieu of wedding favors from Mr and Mrs Demuccion

Donations in Memory of

• Dominic Capone
• Zacahary Cashin
• Ruth Davis
• Norma Dill
• Patricia Driscoll
• Athena Fogarty
• Kyle Herring
• Brandon LeMaire
• Jim LeMaire’s Mom
• Lisa Muhs
• Kelly Ann O’Connell
• Arutro Pace
• Abigail Peyman
• Paulie Poloskey
• Kellijane M. Rivera
• Keira Sweeney
• William Wiebke
• Catherine Vasile

William J. Pace Memorial Golf Outing Benefiting Angela’s House

The Pace family created another great day. They continue to outdo themselves each year. The day was full of exciting things including beat the Pro Bud Harrelson from the LI Ducks and NY Mets. The dinner include the famous grilled steaks from Paces’ Steak House.

Fishing Charter Fundraiser

Our Fishing Fundraiser was on July 20. It was amazing evening thanks to Capt. Chris from the charter boat Fishtail. We caught close to 800 fish!