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COVID-19 – HOW DANCE MARATHON IS HELPING CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS

These statistics are updated regularly, so please be sure to use the latest version.
This was updated on Jan. 5, 2022.

 

Now more than ever, kids can’t wait. Your support of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is invaluable throughout this COVID-19 surge in creating the healthiest future possible for kids.

By participating in the Dance Marathon movement, you are helping CMN Hospitals address the urgent needs brought on by the pandemic, while also maintaining an exceptional standard of care and preparing for those to come. With your help, we can raise the critical funds needed to change kids’ health and change the future.

Children’s hospitals are on the frontlines of the pandemic.

COVID-19 constantly reminds us that as a society, we are deeply interconnected, and our success is based on the ability to lean on each other in times of need. Each of us has been impacted by COVID-19, and that includes our hospitals. In fact, children’s hospitals are in crisis. Again.

Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen to record levels as omicron races across the U.S. This recent surge in childhood admissions is just the latest way to stretch hospitals beyond its limits. Emergency departments and intensive care units are stretched past their limits with fewer medical staff to care for the sickest patients. On top of treating kids with COVID-19, children’s hospitals continue to care for everything from broken bones to cancer, and all the moments in between.

Now more than ever, philanthropy is crucial to ensure children’s hospitals are supported so that kids continue to receive the best care possible – no matter life’s circumstances. Donations can transform how children’s hospitals meet the urgent needs brought on by the pandemic, while still maintaining an exceptional standard of care and well-being.

Kids can’t wait; they need our help now. When each of us does what we can to keep kids safe and spirits unbroken; together, we can change kids’ health to change the future. For all of us.

As COVID-19 continues to hinder our collective health, children’s hospitals are in crisis.

  • Nationwide, on average, pediatric hospitalizations are up nearly 50% in the first week of January.
  • 89% of member hospitals that participated in the CMN Hospitals’ 2021 COVID Impact Survey reported staffing shortages because of COVID-19. These shortages affect patient capacity, workload, burnout, and their own mental health and wellbeing.
  • To limit the spread of COVID-19 and offset the surge, member hospitals are enlisting costly staffing agencies, calling upon the Army National Guard, converting patient rooms to negative pressure rooms for infection control, postponing non-emergent surgeries and converting non-care space, such as playrooms, into patient rooms.
  • The pandemic has also made the ongoing mental health crisis much worse. Some member hospitals have even declared states of emergency like Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Driven by our commonality for a better future, each of us should be driven to do all that we can to keep children safe and spirits unbroken.
  • Mental health issues, lack of preventative care and increased domestic violence are three primary concerns for member hospitals that participated in the CMN Hospitals’ 2021 COVID Impact Survey.
  • The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that over the span of one month – March 2021 – there was a 50% increase in suspected suicide attempt emergency department visits compared to the same time in 2019.
  • Your support – in all its forms – helps kids get the care they need, especially when every second counts.
  • Children’s hospitals have only one goal: to protect the health of our children now and in the future. Together, we can make the impossible, possible.
Contributions to children’s hospitals transform how they meet the urgent needs brought on by the pandemic, while also maintaining an exceptional standard of care.
  • The effects of the pandemic will be seen in our communities and hospitals for many years.
  • Additional funding can help mitigate the staffing shortage by hiring agency caregivers to increase workforce, retaining current staff and specialists, and boost morale.
  • Research is a common area to be affected despite its significance in protecting kids from and treating kids with COVID-19. Children’s hospitals are actively working on COVID-19 research, which varies by hospital and range from monoclonal antibody infusions to MIS-C associated with COVID-19. A study at University of Florida concluded that breast milk of lactating mothers vaccinated again COVID-19 contains a significant supply of antibodies that may help protect nursing infants, who at this age have underdeveloped immune systems.
  • Telehealth services are in greater demand to help offset the number of in-person patients and non-English speaking populations with use of translation technology. It is expected that a $40 million investment across member hospitals is required to meet this demand.
  • As a result of the pandemic, many children’s hospitals initiated new ways to tackle community concerns about access to health care: pediatric post-COVID programs, patient assistance funds, mobile health programs, child-life services for high-risk populations and compassion funds to aid staff and their families with necessities. Due to the demand, these philanthropic services will continue to need funding.

How we can help:

The ripple effects of COVID-19 will affect every aspect of treatment and services offered by children’s hospitals. When we fund children’s hospitals, we transform how we meet the most urgent needs, saving more lives and protecting our collective future. The reality is: Kids Can’t Wait. They need children’s hospitals now more than ever.

Dance Marathon is a movement full of creative solutions, groundbreaking ideas, and unwavering commitment to the cause. This is our time, together with Dance Marathon students and community members all over the country, to step up and change kids’ health and change the future.