VALHALLA, N.Y. (July 11, 2017) – The VanderWoude family from Larchmont, New York will be on Capitol Hill Thursday, July 13, as part of the Children's Hospital Association's Family Advocacy Day effort.
Polly and Dan VanderWoude are heading to Washington, D.C., spurred by their own experiences. The younger of their two children, Olivia, was diagnosed as an infant with Aicardi Syndrome, a rare condition caused by a genetic mutation that limits physical and cognitive development.
When the family moved from Chicago to New York in 2012, Olivia, then two years old, suffered frequent bouts of respiratory distress requiring admissions to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital.
The VanderWoudes hope to meet with legislators while in Washington to share Olivia's story and speak of the importance of children's hospitals and the care they provide. For more information on Family Advocacy Day, please visit www.speaknowforkids.org.
Interested parties can follow the VanderWoudes journey and Family Advocacy Day experiences on Maria Fareri Children's Hospital's Facebook and Twitter pages.
About Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network
Maria Fareri Children's Hospital is the children's hospital for New York's Hudson Valley region and Fairfield County, Connecticut. Located in Valhalla, NY, this 136-bed advanced pediatrics facility cares for the region's most seriously ill and injured children including those in need of cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, hematology and oncology treatments, organ transplants and other specialty pediatric services. Maria Fareri Children's Hospital is also home to the area's only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Level I pediatric trauma and burn care programs and its Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For more information on Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, interested parties can visit WestchesterMedicalCenter.org/MFCH or follow the hospital at Facebook.com/MFCHatWMC and Twitter.com/MFCHatWMC.
About Westchester Medical Center Health Network
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,900-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with 10 hospitals on eight campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 12,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. From Level 1, Level 2 and Pediatric Trauma Centers, the region's only acute care children's hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities, homecare services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State, today WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated healthcare in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit WMCHealth.org.
