Shands.org - Streetlight Program

Types of Streetlight Teams

One on One Visitation

This is the core of the program – companioning with teens in the hospital. A visitation team goes into the teen rooms every afternoon, (Mon – Thurs 3 – 6, and Fri 1 - 4) with an offer to provide movies, play a game of cards, talk, make a ShandsSpace, give Mom & Dad a coffee/food break, hear their story and build a relationship with a teenage patient. (25 – 30 members involved)

Teen Lounge

Teen playing Monopoly with Streetlight team members at the TeenZone Lounge. This shift happens every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night (6 – 9PM). There is no structured “one-thing” happening. Rock Band is pretty popular as is Guitar Hero, beading and crafts, Monopoly ( believe it or not!), and UNO. Our teens also just like to use the Internet. There is a Wii and a pool table. Yes, relationships are formed, but diversion is the key element. The therapy here is about forgetting the hospital for an hour or so. It is also about getting them to meet other teens who also are struggling with different and similar things. (24 members involved)

Focus Groups

Focused interest just seems to happen as you are working with Streetlight. You start to have a soft heart for one area or another, or you see a need and have an idea. And we welcome ideas!!! But focus groups do not work as well if you do not have that
weekly relationship with your teens through shift work.

Sickle Cell

September is SC Awareness Month. We try to plan UF, high school, and community events to raise awareness during this month. We also plan activities during Black History month (February) with area churches and UF student organizations, like ServeFest and Raise Your Voice Month. We are also trying to get regular meetings of the SC community and always need to raise money for gas vouchers and activities. We also help support the transition process (to adult care) as it comes up.

Visit the Stop the Sickle Cycle YouTube channel to inspirational stories of patients living with Sickle Cell disease.

Fariza Alendy is our Sickle Cell project leader, and she has more ideas than we can keep up with! This group will move as fast as the team members serving want to go.

Cystic Fibrosis

This Project group has done amazing things in the area of Transition this year. Michael Tudeen, John Pang, Jessica Greer and others, with the help of a generous donor, have started a transition program (to adult care) that will help our patients feel better informed as they move into adulthood with their disease. We created a yearbook, with pictures from both Peds and Adult care, as well as a video of a Shands CF-er taking us through the adult clinic routine and introducing us to life as a CF adult.

Thanks to BJ’s Restaurant, we are able to offer a graduation dinner for the patient and their family with guests from both pediatrics and adult care. We also have started a web site (by invitation only to CF patients and friends of CF). The challenge is to build ‘community’ with a group that must remain isolated from each other. Our work has focused on laptops and the new website at voicebox.ning.com. This year our project leaders are Roya Tran and Grant Jester.

Cancer

We will continue to have End of Chemo parties. And they way we celebrate has gotten a little more fun each time. Right now they are meeting each other, sometimes for the first time, at the End of Chemo Party. We want to improve on that.; We also want to encourage and maintain connections with our kids back out on the “street”. The laptop project should help connect them with each other for advice, support and friendship. We are also partnering with i2y <thestupidcancershow.com> which is an organization to support young adults with cancer.