At The Valerie Fund Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's Hospital of New Jersey (CHONJ) at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBI), The Magic Clinic supports children with cancer and their families long after diagnosis.
At CHoNJ’s Valerie Fund Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, patient support doesn’t end when treatment concludes or even when a patient’s cancer goes into remission. Patients and their families need many types of support long after diagnosis—and the support they receive here is nothing short of MAGIC.
The MAGIC (Marvel and Grit Inspired Cancer Survivorship) Clinic was established in September 2018 by Teena Bhatla, MD, Director of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at the center.
“Survivors and their families often experience post-diagnosis distress,” says Dr. Bhatla. “We knew that our survivors needed some dedicated services, so we assembled all the resources they would need.” The MAGIC Clinic’s multidisciplinary team includes board- certified pediatric hematology-oncology physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, a survivorship coordinator, social workers, a nutritionist, a child psychologist, an education liaison, and a child life and integrative medicine specialist.
Dr. Surabhi Batra, who coined the ‘MAGIC’ acronym, serves as Director of the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program. The clinic, which supports approximately 250 patients, offers a range of services and works with survivors from completion of treatment until age 29.
The MAGIC Clinic celebrated its First Annual Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Day on June 5, 2022, at Branch Brook Park in Newark. “Our first annual event was originally slated for 2020,” says Dr. Bhatla. “Then COVID hit, and we had to hold off for two years.” The 2022 event was a fun-filled day of socializing, support, education and more. Activities at the picnic were supported by the Valerie Fund and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and included face painting, T-shirt painting, stuffed bear creation and DJ music. Chair massage and aromatherapy activities were offered by CHoNJ’s integrative medicine specialist, Mariella Silva, who is an integral part of the MAGIC Clinic team. Among the speakers were survivors Shariah Marsden, 16, who has been cancer free for three years, and Sanketa Patel Vaish, who’s been cancer-free for more than 20 years and recently gave birth to a baby girl.  |
To learn more about the Valerie Fund Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, call 973.926.7161.