Eliana's Light

Mission:Eliana's Light supports families with children who have complex medical conditions by providing a community-based collaborative approach to pediatric care that’s focused on their whole health and well-being — a focus that makes the whole family feel better.

We engage and collaborate with community members to support families by providing them with the personalized care they need. We give families customized gift bags and connect them to additional information, resources and community members (e.g, medical and integrative care specialists, therapists, volunteers, donors, government agencies, support groups, and others) to support their whole health and well-being. We call these community members “stars".

These “stars” come together to comprise what we call “Constellations of Care” for a family.Each family’s Constellation of Care is unique and evolving —as a family’s needs change, so do their “stars”. These stars address the physical, mental, emotional, and financial needs of each family member. Through this personalized approach, we help to address and reduce the stress, pain, fear, trauma, anxiety, and depression that many children diagnosed with complex medical conditions, as well as their caregivers and siblings, often experience.

Vision:We are a go-to health and wellness support system and resource for families that have children with complex medical conditions. We improve each family member’s quality of life, wellness and well-being. By extension, we help the whole family unit. We recognize each member of a care team and their roles in transforming today’s health care system into one that focuses on the whole health of the entire family through collaborative community-based support.

History: Eliana's Light is named in loving memory of one of the founder's daughters, Eliana, who passed away in March of 2016 from complications post-heart transplant. The idea to start a non-profit that’s focused on the whole health of the whole family stemmed from the founder's family's personal experiences and that of many other families and hospital staff members they met over the years. They understand what it means to be caregivers of children who have a complex medical condition: the painful, scary, and uncertain moments; the anxiety that comes from being stretched between multiple responsibilities and during intense times; the exhaustion of operating on little sleep; the need to find additional resources to help your children in all possible ways; the desperation of feeling you can’t control circumstances or take away the pain, fear, or anguish your child is experiencing; and the recognition of how much stress impacts each family member in her/his own way…

They believe in the importance of holistic care that supports the body, mind, and spirit. They want to help reduce acute and chronic stress that can cause existing conditions to worsen and new conditions to form. They have hope in the potential of integrative care services and Integrative Medicine (IM), as IM "reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing." (Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine)

Eliana's Light supports families with children who have complex medical conditions by providing a community-based collaborative approach to pediatric care that’s focused on their whole health and well-being — a focus that makes the whole family feel better. We organize large community service activities throughout the year in which volunteers of all ages can show their support for local families with children who have complex medical conditions.

This Is How We C.A.R.E.

• Connect: We connect to families where they are through our Eliana’s Light Constellation Kits, learning events, tip sheets, and communications channels. We also connect families to resources, specialists, other organizations, and information that can help reduce their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and/or financial stress. We build trusting, compassionate relationships with them through our shared humanity while we develop “Constellations of C.A.R.E.” through the collaborative community service activities we organize.

• Advocate: We advocate for Integrative Medicine (IM) and integrative care services within pediatric medical facilities and as part of standard medical care, therapy programming and research initiatives. For example, we collaborate with hospital staff and with physical, occupational, feeding, and speech/language therapists on ways to incorporate mindfulness and integrative care services into their programming.

• Raise Awareness: We raise awareness on whole health and related programming, approaches and strategies that help reduce stress, anxiety, pain, and fear, especially in regard to medical care and treatments.

• Exchange: We serve on various advisory committees and manage one directly in order to exchange information and resources with local specialists in areas relevant to our mission.

We C.A.R.E. alongside collaborators, together forming Constellations of CA.R.E. in a community for families with children who have complex medical conditions. We accompany families for as long as they'd like to stay connected to Eliana's Light. When the family's needs change, we help guide them to other support services that are relevant to their new needs. We do not provide technical expertise directly; we instead help connect caregivers to experts who are part of Constellations of C.A.R.E. within our communities.