Founder Of Beads Of Courage Organization To Visit Salisbury August 27

Jean Baruch, a pediatric oncology nurse, was good at hanging IV bags and checking vital signs, but she had a harder time helping her young patients deal with the emotional effects of having cancer. "I wanted to encourage them to express their pain and fear, but I didn't know how," she says. "It was very frustrating."
She discovered a solution while working at one of Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang summer camps.

The camp, which hosts children and families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses, gave Baruch unique insight into how kids play. She noticed that campers of all ages love beading. They spend hours making necklaces and bracelets, then trade or share them with friends and family. "The kids wear the beads for days at a time, even in the shower," she notes. "It seems to make them feel good."

Hoping that beads could cheer up young cancer patients in hospitals the same way they do at camp, Baruch founded Beads of Courage in 2004.

Children who participate in the program receive colored beads that represent milestones, procedures, and acts of bravery. For instance, they get a yellow bead for an overnight hospital stay, a white one for chemotherapy, and a glow-in-the-dark bead for radiation treatment. It's not uncommon for children to amass 10, 20 -- even 35 -- feet of beads. It helps young patients track and celebrate their progress, but it also gives them a way to get through upcoming procedures.

Today the nonprofit organization supports more than 15,000 children in more than 90 hospitals in the United States, Japan, and New Zealand and is funded exclusively by private donations. With the help of participating hospitals, Beads of Courage is also constantly evolving. Baruch and her team have expanded the program to include many conditions and diseases. They also focus on other ways the arts can help families dealing with a serious illness. There is only one participating hospital in MD (Johns Hopkins) and one in Delaware (AI duPont Hospital for Children).

Baruch will be a keynote speaker on Salisbury August 27 at The Holiday Inn for the Salisbury Beads of Courage event (6:30 pm, Aug 27) to support this program and the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Oncology Department. For event information call Steven Rumney (Hill Street Productions) at 410-251-2804.