According to her mother, Lauren also is interested in becoming a pediatric cardiologist when she grows up.
Lauren Elsky had a very personal idea for her Bat Mitzvah project: to support the Child Life Department at Children’s Hospital of New Jersey (CHoNJ) at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Lauren herself had been a patient at CHoNJ at the age of three. She was born with pulmonary stenosis, a birth defect of the heart. “That’s when your heart valve doesn’t open and close properly,” she explains.
Lauren needed a cardiac catheterization procedure to repair her obstructed pulmonary valve. The procedure was done by Rajiv Verma, MD, a pediatric and adult congenital heart disease specialist, Director of the Children’s Heart Center at CHoNJ and a member of RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group.“After the surgery, I had to lay completely still for six hours, which is really hard for a 3-year-old to do,” Lauren recalls. “Luckily for me, I had such great and caring parents. They went to Learning Express and asked them to individually wrap a ton of toys to keep me busy and still for those very long six hours. As lucky as I was, I know that many other kids are not. This is why my mitzvah project is to raise money to purchase toys for kids in the Pediatric Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit."
Ten years after that experience, Lauren presented a check for the $4,000 she had raised to Dr. Verma. Thanks to her donation, hospitalized children will have access to a variety of toys and games—distractions that help minimize the stress and anxiety that pediatric patients often experience during a hospital stay or medical procedure.
“I happened to be part of the multidisciplinary team at Children’s Hospital of New Jersey that took care of her,” says Dr. Verma. “I am so happy for Lauren and proud of her endeavors. It is so nice to hear about how our children progress as they grow older."
According to her mother, Lauren also is interested in becoming a pediatric cardiologist when she grows up.
“That is a good career choice!” says Dr. Verma. His advice to Lauren is to follow her heart.
To support programs and services at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of New Jersey, call 973-926-7018.