The Need

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 12.4% of the birth-18 population in the state has special health care needs, including life-threatening conditions. Of the 160,946 children identified with special health risks, 38,775 reside in St. Louis County. Bringing these statistics even closer to home, one in five families with children has a child with a special health care need that will require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children in general, and may put the family in crisis. Certainly, we all know families or may have been part of families whose world has been turned upside down within a matter of hours with the diagnosis of a life-threatening condition in one of their children. This diagnosis will place intense physical, emotional and financial needs on the family, sometimes for a long period of time.

Scope of Projects

Northern Lights Foundation seeks to provide children diagnosed with life-threatening conditions and their families some respite from lives that are compromised and often in crisis because of the complications of a life-threatening condition. Many times this is presented as a financial gift to assist in paying for expenses that have been incurred due to hospitalization or medical treatments. Northern Lights Foundation also works with the local hospitality sector to secure hotel and meal vouchers to be made available to family members at no charge. We are also prepared to use a network of community resources to assist in helping children and families make a wish come true – something as simple as meeting a celebrity to taking a long-desired vacation. Children birth to 18 years of age with a life-threatening condition, and patients within the Duluth medical community are eligible to apply to Northern Lights Foundation for assistance.

Outcomes

  • Families of children with life-threatening conditions will be assisted with the financial burden that often accompanies a child’s hospitalization or extended medical protocol.
  • Children with life-threatening conditions will have an opportunity to fulfill a wish or desire that my not otherwise be possible.
  • Northern Lights Foundation will work with the medical community to assist families in medical crisis.
  • Northern Lights Foundation will use its influence and resources to raise money to be distributed to families in need.

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