Barbara Efchak

Our Mission The Valerie Fund's mission is to provide support for the comprehensive health care of children with cancer and blood disorders. Our Beginning The Valerie Fund is a not-for-profit organization established in 1976 in memory of nine-year-old Valerie Goldstein by her parents, Ed and Sue. Our Impact Families turn to The Valerie Fund because of the unique combination of medical care, counseling, and other services it provides. The Valerie Fund Children's Centers comprise the largest network of healthcare facilities for children with cancer and blood disorders in New Jersey, and one of the largest in the nation. We host over 35,000 patient visits each year. Close to Home: Today there are seven Valerie Fund Children's Centers for Cancer and Blood Disorders located in major hospitals in New Jersey, New York, and the Philadelphia area providing caring, comprehensive, state-of-the-art outpatient health care to more than 5,000 children and their families each year. This network means that sick children are able to receive care close to their homes. Before The Valerie Fund, many children—such as Valerie Goldstein—had to travel long distances because the treatment they needed was available only at major medical facilities located in large cities. The Whole Patient: At The Valerie Fund Centers, patients receive far more than treatment for their physical illnesses. Our philosophy is that to truly heal the children with whose care we are entrusted, we must treat them emotionally, socially, and developmentally, as well as medically. The Entire Family: Childhood disease strikes not only the child, but the entire family. When a child is a patient at a Valerie Fund Center, a staff of social workers, counselors, psychologists, and child-life specialists enfold the child and the family in a blanket of ongoing, individualized care. We firmly believe this approach is the most effective way to fight childhood disease.