HOSPITAL OVERVIEW AND MISSION
Our goal at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center is to make all children healthy and happy. Every day, our dedicated staff of physicians, nurses, allied health practitioners, technologists and others helps us to attain that goal by providing advanced life-saving care to more than one million children in the Hudson Valley region.Our mission is to set the standard for family-centered, compassionate care in a unique state-of-the-art environment that attracts outstanding physicians and staff, and which promotes healing, wellness and knowledge to all children and their families. We are advocates for children's health and wellness and actively promote health education and activities within both the hospital and the community at large.

CHILD LIFE
The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department helps you and your child adjust to and understand hospitalization, illness, injury, and treatment. The Child Life team is comprised of Certified Child Life Specialists, a Board Certified Music Therapist and a Board Certified Art Therapist, all of whom are professionals with advanced training in areas related to working with children and families in medical settings. All team members hold either Bachelor's or Master's degrees in the areas of child life, child development, music therapy or art therapy. In addition, each team member maintains professional certification in their respective field.

CHILD LIFE MISSION
The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department's mission is to provide children and their families facing traumatic and complex healthcare challenges with clinical interventions of Child Life, Art Therapy and Music Therapy services. As vital members of an advanced healthcare team, we aspire to advocate, respond, and focus on supportive services that address the emotional and psychological needs of the individual patient and their family system. Our purpose is to foster understanding and coping, mastery and empowerment by using creative self-expressive mediums and developmentally, supportive therapeutic play opportunities to reduce the stress and anxiety related to illness, injury and hospitalization.

Special Programs & Visitors

Special programs are planned throughout the year to provide entertainment as well as distraction from the daily hospital routine.

Special events and visitors to the hospital are important components of our program as they offer your child something to look forward to during their hospitalization. These events include holiday celebrations, and regular performances by magicians, among others.