championship experiences in 2023
hospital affiliations
new matches made in 2023
children engaged in 2023
referrals received in 2023
new family members in 2023
student-athletes engaged in 2023
“We dream that every child with a serious illness or disability has the chance to build relationships like we have. That every one of them feels the love, the support and the magic of Team IMPACT like we have. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM – WHATEVER IT TAKES.”
- Kristen Stiles, mother of Lucy & Sophie, matched with Boston College women's lacrosse
CUSTOMIZED GAME PLANS
This year you have helped us add members to our incredible team of Case Managers who facilitate relationships between kids and their teams, ensuring that they build rapport, connection, and trust. Each relationship starts with our Case Managers, all masters-level social workers or certified child life specialists, understanding each family — their child’s diagnosis, the challenges they’ve faced, and how a mentoring relationship might provide benefits. Your support has helped Team IMPACT Case Managers create a personalized ‘game plan’ of social-emotional goals that are tailored to the specific needs of each child.
WHY IT MATTERS
“I’ve witnessed so many positive outcomes for families connected with Team IMPACT, and the word that encompasses them all is flourishing. Patients connected with this organization become involved in something that transcends their treatment journey. They exhibit an increased sense of inclusion, they build an identity outside of illness, and they gain an exponential support system. I often describe Team IMPACT as an additional sphere of support for an entire family– a sphere that extends beyond their relatives or medical team. With Team IMPACT, a child or teen feels chosen, and their family becomes wrapped in unconditional connectedness, joy, guidance, and strength. I also like to share that Team IMPACT remains grounded in evidenced-based practices, so the interactions and activities offered to patients can provide maximum outcomes!”
- Nicole Queathem, MEd, CCLS
Duke Children’s Hospital and Health Center | Pediatric Hematology / Oncology
REAL RESULTS FOR OUR FAMILIES
Involvement in Team IMPACT is related to improvement in emotional resilience, which can impact overall quality of life for children with chronic illness and disability.
A retrospective survey of our families, conducted 24 months into their Team IMPACT journey, showed that participation resulted in these key measurements:
increased level of physical activity
improved ability to advocate for themselves with their medical team
improved cooperation with medical care
improved independence with their medical care
"When we signed up, it felt like it would be a fun, unique, and cool experience. We had no idea how transformative it would be. Emma is fully invested in being part of the team. She loves all her teammates dearly, and watches the entirety of the games—which for Emma is an incredible feat in and of itself. If that wasn’t enough, she is emotionally connected, which is the most incredible part of all.”
- Katy, mom of Emma, matched with University of Wisconsin women's basketball
A COMMITMENT TO ACCESS FOR ALL
WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT OUR FAMILIES AND HOSPITAL PARTNERS IN ADVANCING HEALTH EQUITY AND COMBATTING RISING DISPARITY IN HEALTH OUTCOMES RELATED TO RACE, ETHNICITY, AND FAMILY INCOME.
WE STRIVE TO DO THIS THROUGH THE FOUR PILLARS OF OUR DEI WORK:
ACCESS
EQUITY
REPRESENTATION
DEVELOPING INCLUSIVE LEADERS
ADVANCING HEALTH EQUITY 2023 INITIATIVES ACHIEVED
REMOVING BARRIERS IN KEY AREAS
DIVERSITY
At every level of our organization and within our program, we strive to be representative of the populations we serve. Because Team IMPACT serves so many different diagnoses, we’ve set our largest diagnosis group in the program (pediatric cancer) and the NCAA student-athlete population as benchmarks for racial/ethnic representation, which we achieved this year. Key partnerships with healthcare institutions, like The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, have allowed us to expand our presence in more diverse disease communities.
✓ 40% of new referrals represent diversity of race/ethnicity
✓ 40% of the new sign-ups for the program in 2023 are girls, a 10% increase over 2022 thanks to targeted recruitment focused on diagnoses that primarily affect girls and a social media marketing campaign
LANGUAGE
Breaking down language barriers, offers families that are solely Spanish-speaking the opportunity to participate in the program while maintaining the same high-quality Team IMPACT experience. We’ve made bilingual Case Managers part of our core team and have incorporated multilingual accessibility into each of our outreach and programmatic components.
✓ Recruited 60 Spanish speaking families all-time, including 30 in 2023 alone.
✓ 18 Spanish speaking families that have been actively matched this year.
✓ Created our first Spanish Language Case Management program
2
Bilingual
Case Managers
1
Bilingual
Intake Coordinator
STAFFING
No one understands the population of a community like a local resident. By increasing staffing of local Case Managers we can better understand the population of the healthcare and athletic institutions we work with. These individuals are key to integrating into the fabric of the local community and ensuring we are engaging a population that is representative of the local community at large.
match supports completed in 2023
outreach touchpoints in 2023
7
New program
staff members
TRANSPORTATION
Our transportation pilot was a success in 2023, removing the barrier of the cost of transportation for some of our lowest-income families to get to campus or team events. 86% are families of color and 37% are Spanish-speaking. The pilot has directly contributed to diversifying our program population.
Rides given in 2023
MORE THAN A TEAM.
WE ARE A FAMILY.
Thank you for helping make these magical experiences a reality for the children and families who need it most and the student-athletes whose lives have been changed forever.
