To Our Dearest Family & Friends,

As we enter into 2021, we want to thank you for your continued generosity in support of the Andrew Paul Stevens Endowment Fund.  You may recall that we shared with you that an Anonymous Donor offered to match any funds raised by the end of 2020, up to $12,000.  Through YOUR overwhelming giving and our Anonymous Donor, Derby for Drew III donations raised over $37,000!  These monies will continue to support our investment to The Kid’s Comfort Promise. 

Throughout the pandemic, we have been in contact with the Kids Comfort Promise team and want to share a letter we received from Lauren Fortier, NP in the pediatric intensive care unit, and one of the leaders who has implemented The Kid’s Comfort Promise across UMass:

As we enter Thanksgiving week, I have been busy restocking Comfort Kits and hanging more posters in our Emergency Rooms.  But I have also been reflecting on what I am grateful for this year and Kid’s Comfort Promise is one of the things that comes to mind. I wanted to express to you both what an amazing gift you have given to our unit, our hospital and our patients.  Your continued support of the Kid’s Comfort Promise IS making a difference and I am so thankful for that.  I know that Neal is as well!

After we last Zoomed, we were able to complete 15 more Comfort Kits and have new labels on the boxes with Drew’s beautiful smile.  We have also been able to install new shelves in the Emergency Rooms (both Memorial and University campuses) so that the Comfort Kits have a designated place to live, making them easy to find and access.  Additionally, myself and Jenn Flynn the Kid’s Comfort Nurse Specialist have been able to spend time helping to teach more staff and monitor the use of these tools and techniques.  We continue to develop a smooth process for our inpatient phlebotomists to team up with our Child Life Specialists for the morning blood draws to make that process easier on kids and families.  We have been monitoring the use of numbing cream related to this and are excited to see that numbing cream is being used on average 60 times per month for these morning draws.  This is a huge success from our average of 0 prior to our program!  This has been with hard work by our nursing staff, phlebotomy team and Child Life Specialists.  We are pushing for similar impacts in other clinical areas.  

We are hopeful that 2021 will be a better year for all!  To that end, we want to announce that we will plan to host Derby for Drew IV on Saturday, May 1, 2021 at the Haven Country Club in Boylston, MA.

Thank you for showing your continued love for Drew!

Chuck, Susan & Chloe

About The Kid’s Comfort Promise Program:

The Kid’s Comfort Promise is a program dedicated to minimizing the physical and emotional pain and stress associated with needlesticks. Using proven techniques and tools together, children can have IVs placed, blood draws and immunizations given in a much easier manner. With the support from the Derby for Drew, UMass will be able to expand this pilot program to a system wide protocol.  A dedicated nurse has been added to the team to support this expansion.  This will make UMass one of only a handful of hospitals nationwide that offers such an impactful program to minimize needlestick pain.