Better Together
Caring for children when they are in the hospital or at a doctor’s appointment is only the beginning. Our mission is to improve every child’s health and well-being, which means caring for children where they are: in the community. Here are some steps we’re taking to meet that goal. Get Started
Promoting Wellness Equity to Help Kids BE-WEHL
Mental health is vital to overall well-being, and mind-body practices are effective tools for enhancing it. Recognizing this, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) launched the Integrative Health (IH) Program 10 years ago to incorporate wellness practices such as yoga, massage, aromatherapy and acupuncture into patient care.
Now, IH is bringing the benefits of these practices into the community through their Behavioral Health — Wellness Equity for a Healthy Life (BE-WEHL) program. Learn More
Launched in 2020
The BE-WEHL program offers a comprehensive seven-session curriculum designed to help children and families in under-resourced communities manage stress and cope with life's challenges. The curriculum covers mindfulness, nutrition, sleep, physical activity, yoga, self-massage, breathwork, nature and progressive muscle relaxation.
It was developed by experts from Integrative Health to address the unique needs of communities with higher levels of trauma and limited access to behavioral health professionals for children and adolescents.
By the Numbers
BE-WEHL is unique in that we're not talking about a disease-specific thing. The focus is on stress, wellness and mindfulness. That allows us to be flexible and adapt the program, while always focusing on children.
Complementary therapies, like yoga, massage, aromatherapy and acupuncture, are traditionally accessed by affluent populations, so as a team we really wanted to find a way to systematically make these practices more available to populations living in underserved areas.
Growth Since Launch
BE-WEHL has continuously evolved to maximize its impact and sustainability. Initially focused on offering one-on-one virtual classes for CHOP patients with behavioral health challenges and their families, the program expanded in 2022 with support from CHOP's Office of Community Impact. This funding enabled BE-WEHL to bring its curriculum into elementary schools, reaching children ages 5-14.
More recently, the program introduced professional training workshops empowering educators at early childhood centers to adopt wellness practices to manage their own stress and teach these strategies to children.
Medicine and More: The Family Connects Program
Sometimes, a family visiting the Emergency Department at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has social needs that go beyond their child's immediate medical problem. Families may struggle to have enough food or a safe place to live. CHOP created Family Connects to provide community resources to meet those social needs. Learn More
Healthy Food, Healthy Childhood
When a family doesn't have the resources to put nutritious food on the table, providing a bag of groceries just answers an immediate problem. The Food as Medicine program takes a broader approach that includes nutrition education for families and activities for kids so they're learning about healthy food while having fun. And it happens right where the kids receive their healthcare: The Nicholas and Athena Karabots Primary Care Center, Norristown.
The program began when social worker Victoria Armstrong saw Norristown families facing food instability coming out of the pandemic. Learn More
Food — and So Much More for Families
Families Enrolled in Food as Medicine receive:
- Weekly delivery of fresh produce May through November, complete with info on what's in the box and recipes to try
- Twice monthly delivery of nonperishable groceries
- Monthly family sessions with exercise, story time, gardening, cooking demonstrations and dinner
- Cooking equipment that includes cutting boards, knives, grater, pots, pans and more, plus a cookbook of family-friendly, healthy fare
- Monthly children's book related to gardening or healthy eating
- Yoga mat and water bottle for each child
It Takes a Village to Offer Family Nights
Community partners that support Food as Medicine:
- Cutloose Cares and leaders Jordan and Emily Deane
- Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which provided the on-site garden, cooking demonstrations and weekly produce boxes
- Martha's Choice Marketplace, a Catholic Social Services food pantry in Norristown
- Norristown-area restaurants
- Reach Out and Read and other CHOP volunteers
Learn About CHOP's Food-related Programs
Photos of a Food as Medicine family night
Working to Build a Future Workforce at CHOP
Part of CHOP's mission is to fill the registry of future healthcare workers with young people who reflect our diverse community and patient population. We have numerous programs that give youth from grade school through college opportunities to learn about the many roles across the institution — in patient care, administration, research and beyond.
Our robust internship programs, in particular, provide hands-on experience that can transform a student's career aspirations and prepare them for a job across the spectrum of healthcare. Learn More
Training at CHOP Is a Nationwide Draw
The nine REU interns for 2023 came from colleges that spanned the United States.
Safer Driving and Brain Injury Dominate Research Topics
Summer 2023 REU research topics included:
- Biomechanical Responses during Pre-Crash Maneuvers and Autonomous Driving Scenarios
- Understanding Eye-Glance Behaviors Among Young Drivers
- Analysis of Pediatric Occupant Kinematics and Kinetics in Motor Vehicle Crashes
- Social Equity and Spatial Effects on Safe Mobility
- Developing 3D-Printed Anthropomorphic Models to Improve Clinical Training
- Examining Learning to Drive, Risky Driving Behavior, and Crashes in Young Drivers
- Human Subject Study with Parents and Teens to Study Effectiveness of Driver Safety App
- Optimizing Concussion Care for Children and Adolescents
- Cognitive and Circuit Impairments Induced by Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Our Financial Commitment
Our pledge to improve the health of children and the broader community takes on many forms: thousands of employee volunteer hours, free use of our facilities for community organizations, free health education and training for families and professionals, donated goods and services, and, of course, financial. Through all these efforts, in fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023), CHOP contributed more than $640 million to this effort.
All financial data is for fiscal year July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. These reports include amounts expended by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s hospital facilities, as reported on Schedule H of the IRS Form 990, and our controlled affiliates, including our physician practice plans, which are not required to complete Schedule H. Accordingly, the values on this fact sheet are greater than the amounts reported in the CHOP Schedule H, which applies only to our hospital facilities. For more information, call CHOP’s Office of Community Impact at 267-426-5506.
Financial Assistance Policy Summary: The mission of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is to advance healthcare for children. To help children get the care that they need, CHOP provides financial assistance for medically necessary and emergency care to patients who meet the eligibility requirements. If CHOP determines that a patient is eligible, CHOP will waive 100% of the patient’s financial responsibility (after all applicable insurances and other government assistance). Learn more about our financial assistance policy. View previous Community Impact Reports.
Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Commitment
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Financial Assistance / Charity Care Cost of medical care services for families that qualify for CHOP’s financial assistance policy | 2,651,982 |
| Medicaid Programs Unreimbursed cost of Medicaid and other means-tested government health programs | 357,116,120 |
| Community Health Improvement Services Community-based clinical services, health education and support services focused on public health | 19,734,721 |
| Health Professions Education Net costs incurred by CHOP to train health professionals, including pediatricians | 59,811,593 |
| Subsidized Health Services Hospital-based clinical services provided at a financial loss to the organization | 69,936,713 |
| Research Cost of studies that identify new treatments and cures | 126,105,183 |
| Cash and In Kind Contributions Funds and goods provided to other organizations to provide community benefit | 7,049,337 |
| Total | 642,405,650 |