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NCCF's Torino Classroom
In 2008, NCCF began the In-Patient Education
Services program which includes a school room and continued
education for children that suffer from life threatening illnesses
such as cancer, sickle cell, HIV/AIDS, hemophilia, and immune
related diseases. The Torino Classroom’s home is on the 5th
floor pediatric oncology unit at Sunrise Children’s Hospital and
has been named after its funding donor Brett Torino and the Torino
Foundation. It was created to help critically ill children keep up
on their schoolwork during the treatment and recovery from their
illness, the classroom is a full-time, five-day-per-week
elementary and secondary classroom for K-12 students who are
patients.
Several years ago, the NCCF initiated research
which discovered that education stood out significantly among
primary factors, such as family life and finances, that most
impact a child’s quality of life during treatment. The classroom
is an integral component of the NCCF Educational Services Program,
which provides normalcy and empowerment for children whose lives
have been changed due to a critical illness.
The classroom is the community partnership of
four entities. Underwritten by the Torino Foundation and housed on
the Pediatric Oncology floor of Sunrise Children’s Hospital, the
classroom is an educational services program created and
facilitated by the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation (NCCF). The
program is directed by Dr. Tonie Valesano, PHD, LCSW, the Director
of Project A.R.K. (Aids and Resources for Kids), the social
services division of NCCF. The classroom’s full-time teacher,
Lenny Ware, is the NCCF Director of Educational Services. The
curriculum, which is coordinated with the daily curricula of the
Clark County School District, is individually based and focuses on
student’s needs, strengths and weaknesses.
The Torino Classroom is a 340-square-foot
educational facility equipped with school supplies, computers, a
DVD player, wall screen and state-of-the-art education tools. It
is the only classroom in the nation that is managed and staffed by
a non-profit organization.
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