Essential Care for Children

Essential Care is a special way of caring for a child with a life-threatening illness. Our program, the first of its kind in the United States, is a pediatric program of Home Care Buffalo, an affiliate of The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care. Our program works closely with The Children's Hospital of Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. We give a child and family complete and consistent care - physical, spiritual and emotional - at home or in the hospital.

Essential Care is available to children, from infancy through adolescence, who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. We care for children who live in Erie, Niagara, and parts of Genesee and Cattaraugus counties. Our referrals come from physicians, but often it's a family member or friend who refers people to Essential Care.

The Vision of the Essential Care Program

It is our passion to provide the most comprehensive home-based service to children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses, while supporting their families during the continuum of care. The program consists of a core of specialty-trained professionals that collaborate with the child's medical team during their illness, support their loved ones with an in-depth psychosocial intervention approach, play therapy for the patient, siblings and their community support system, and provide spiritual support for those that are supporting the children during the span of the illness and treatment.

Essential Care Services

While most of our care is provided at home, we also help in the hospital. We feel that the best place for a child to heal is at home, a place where they are comfortable and can do the things they like to do: draw, watch cartoons, and play with their favorite things in a familiar place. It also helps children feel better when their family is around to support them.

We have a whole team of pediatric professionals to help you:

• registered nurses
• pain management specialists
• child and adolescent specialists
• music and art therapists
• physical and occupational therapists
• social workers
• bereavement counselors
• pastoral care counselors
• And they are all specially trained to work with children and adolescents.

To find our more about Essential Care, to enroll, or to refer someone for care, simply call us at (716) 686-8006 or send us an email.

Upcoming Events to Benefit the Essential Care for Children program:

Stay tuned for more great events!