Art Gallery Work Celebrates Autism Acceptance Month

More than a dozen Hackensack Meridian Children's Health pediatric patients featured their art at two gallery receptions marking April's observance of Autism Acceptance Month.

Patients, their families and care teams attended receptions at the Westwood Gallery in Westwood and the Frederick Galleries in Spring Lake. Both galleries donated space for the gatherings. Following the Westwood exhibit, art moved to the lobby of Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital on the Hackensack University Medical Center campus in Hackensack. Through Friday, digital art, sketchings, balloon sculptures and paintings remain on exhibit at the Spring Lake art gallery.  The works created by patients of K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital will be on exhibit in the lobby of Jersey Shore University Hospital in Neptune through the begining of May. 

In addition to the art gallery showings, Hackensack Meridian Children's Health has marked Autism Acceptance Month with annoucements about  new programs and a new accolade.  The Autism Program at Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health is a collaborative initiative among the two children’s hospitals that make up the network - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital at Jersey Shore University Hospital - and children’s services at JFK University Medical Center.

This month, the program introduced programs that include the network wide Coping Passport tool which makes it possible for families to communicate their children’s needs with their care team or outside resources such as a school. Information that can be included in the passport include preferences for communication styles and how discomfort and pain is expressed. The passport is meant to support  patients with special needs, including but not limited to autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, anxiety, and ADHD. A second tool - a digital platform called EmpowerU, is available at all 18 Hackensack Meridian Health hospital, Dedicated to families living with autism, families and caregivers can enroll in a free text message platform that provides personalized health information and connections to resources. The platform is designed to meet the needs of caregivers of children aged 1 to 21, and children aged 12 to 17. This is available to patients and families at all 18 Hackensack Meridian Health hospitals. 

Both children's hospitals also recently hired board certified behavioral analysts (BCBA)  who work to provide individualized care for the Emergency Department and inpatient units. The Pediatric Emergency Department at Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital also recently became the first Emergency Department in New Jersey to earn the Certified Autism Center™ (CAC) designation through the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). 

According to research, 1 in 34 children and their families are coping with an ASD diagnosis, with the reporting of cases having jumped 300 percent in the past 16 years.