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The Butterfly Program

The Butterfly Program

Hospice El Paso has the only non-profit pediatric palliative and hospice care service in our community — The Butterfly Program.

The Butterfly Program provides palliative care from a compassionate, pediatric perspective. Through the Concurrent Care for Children Provision of the Affordable Care Act, children can receive comprehensive hospice support while continuing treatment therapies.

Our Medical Director is formally trained in Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Care

Program Benefits

Volunteer Support Visits

Spiritual Care

Expressive Therapies (Pet, Art, and Music)

Professional Counseling

Social Work Services

On-call Nurses, Social Workers, and Chaplains

Bereavement Services

  • Celebrating milestones
  • Planning surprises for your child
  • Coordinating family photo sessions
  • Providing a Build-A-Bear with your child’s heartbeat
  • Creating clay handprints
  • Granting Butterfly wishes
  • Gifting a Remembrance Box to capture their journey

We Help Create Lasting Memories

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Copy of Butterfly (3)
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Psychosocial Support Services for Children and Caregivers

  1. Making Headway Foundation – 
    • counseling and support groups for children with brain and spinal tumors/cancers and their families
  2. Hayden’s Hope Foundation – 
    • mental health support for children with cancer and their families
  3. Ryan’s Case for Smiles – 
    • runs a platform called Coping Space that offers resources related to supporting children experiencing illness or injury
  4. Hearts Connected –
    •  speak to a Certified Child Life Specialist virtually
  5. Child Life On Call – 
    • speak to a Certified Child Life Specialist virtually 
  6. Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation –
    •  offers a separate website just for kids with cancer (not just for those with brain tumors) called ImaginaryFriendSociety.org that helps children understand their diagnosis and treatment
  7. CancerCare – 
    • counseling services and support groups for caregivers
  8. Aflac – 
    • provide My Special Aflac Ducks that have a port and show different emotions (ask your Child Life Specialist for one!)
  9. Gabe’s Chemo Duck – 
    • a stuffed animal duck with a port for kids to play with it
  10. Stupid Cancer – 
    • a website for adolescents and young adults with cancer

Resources Opportunities for Joy

  1. Andrew’s Laughing Gas  –  
    • provides stuffed animals that fart (ask your Child Life Specialist for one!)
  2. Brooke Healey Foundation – 
    • can provide toys or money for fun experiences
  3. Hope vs. Cancer – 
    • provides childhood cancer themed tattoos 
  4. Gold Rush Cure – 
    • provides a fun package to the child with cancer and their siblings
  5. The Magic Yarn Project – 
    • provides fun wigs made of yarn 
  6. The Ethan Jostad Foundation – 
    • provide fun care packages 
  7. Strong Little Souls – 
    • provides fun care packages 
  8. Confections for a Cure – 
    • provides packages to help children decorate their hospital rooms
  9. Tanner’s Totes – 
    • provide fun-filled “totes” 
  10. Hear Your Song – 
    • helps the child write and create their own song/music
  11. Glimmer of Hope Foundation – 
    • provide bald dolls in 4 different skin tones
  12. Hannah’s Happy Bundles –
    •  provide fun care packages
  13. The Pablove Foundation – 
    • provide photography courses for free for children ages 6 to 18
  14. Club NEGU – 
    • provide fun items and opportunities for those that sign up online to join (ask your Child Life Specialist for a NEGU Joy Jar!)
  15. The Cancer Kickers Soccer Club –
    •  provides custom soccer apparel and gear for free
  16. Childhood Leukemia Foundation –
    • provides tablets and little gift baskets to children with cancer

Financial Support​

  1. Brooke Healey Foundation 
  2. Making Headway Foundation 
  3. Hayden’s Hope Foundation
  4. Eye Fight for Kids (children with retinoblastoma and their families) 
  5. Specialove
  6. Max Life Foundation
  7. Strong Little Souls
  8. Alex’s Lemonade Stand
  9. HayesTough Foundation
  10. American Childhood Cancer Organization
  11. American Cancer Society
  12. Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive Foundation)
  13. Angels of Hope
  14. CancerCare
  15. Live Like Bella
  16. National Children’s Cancer Society
  17. Pinky Swear Foundation
  18. Gold Out El Paso
  19. Candlelighters El Paso
  20. Eagle’s Treasures in Heaven

Wishes

  1. Make-A-Wish – 
    • wishes for ages 2 to 18
  2. Catch-A-Dream – 
    • hunting- and fishing-related wishes 
  3. Nikolas Ritschel Foundation –
    • provides wishes for young adults ages 18 to 24 who had or have cancer
  4. Pay it Forward Networking- 
    • provides wish-like experiences for ages 0 to 21
  5. Children’s Wish Foundation –
    •  offers small and large wishes 
  6. Strong Little Souls –
    •  provides small wishes

Reliable Sources of Information​

  1. American Childhood Cancer Organization
  2. American Cancer Society
  3. CancerCare
  4. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
  5. National Children’s Cancer Society
  6. Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

Connection to Others

  1. Upopolis – 
    • connects children ages 10 to 18 going through medical experiences through an online platform
  2. Sweet Tea Cancer Connections – 
    • created an app called CoHeals (Community Heals) to help connect caregivers of children with cancer
  3. HayesTough Foundation – 
    • connect families through an online community
  4. American Cancer Society – 
    • resources and an online community for caregivers
  5. American Childhood Cancer Organization – 
    • resources and an online community for caregivers
  6. Caring Bridge – 
    • a platform similar to Facebook that allows caregivers to post updates, pictures, etc for friends and family to see

Fundraising

  1. Confections for a Cure – 
    • offer a platform for fundraising assistance

Housing Near Hospital​

  1. Ronald McDonald House –
    •  housing for families with a child in the hospital that do not have a place to stay in El Paso

Hair Loss

  1. Crowns of Courage – provide free halo wigs
  2. Wigs for Kids – offers free, custom wigs (lengthy process)
  3. Childhood Leukemia Foundation – provides free, custom wigs to any child with cancer

Camps

  1. Candlelighters El Paso – 
    • provides camps and shorter trips
  2. Specialove – 
    • provides free camps and weekend getaways
  3. Camp Sunshine – a camp in Maine that whole families can go to (the first time going is free, including travel)
  4. SeriousFun Network –
    •  a network of camps in the U.S. and around the country that provide camps for children with various illnesses, diseases, etc. 

Hospital Clothing

  1. Luke’s Fastbreaks’s – 
    • provide care packages that include their port shirts that are made for easy access to the port site
  1. Brave Gowns –
    •  offer free, fun colored hospital gowns
  2. Cape Ivy- 
    • provides fleece ponchos that can be more comfortable and accessible than a hospital gown (ask your Child Life Specialist for a poncho!)
  3. Amanda Hope Rainbow Angels – 
    • provide free port shirts known as their ComfyCozy’s for Chemo shirts 

Books to Help Support Children with Cancer and Siblings

  1. Marvelous Marleigh by Marie Dominique Verdier and Ruth I. Hoffman
  2. The Invisible String by Patrice Karst and Geoff Stevenson
  3. The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
  4. Chemo, Craziness, and Comfort: My Book About Childhood Cancer by Nancy Keene and Trevor Romain
  5. Kathy’s Hats: A Story of Hope by Trudy Kisher
  6. The Famous Hat by Kate Gaynor
  7. Big Tree is Sick by Nathalie Slosse
  8. Oliver’s Story by Mike Dodd
  9. When Someone You Love Has Cancer by Alaric Lewis

Books for Parents/Caregivers

  1. Childhood Leukemia: A Guide for Families, Friends, and Caregivers by Nancy Keene
  2. Living With Childhood Cancer: A Practical Guide to Help Families Cope

Guided Journals

  1. Ink About It (sold by Art with Heart)
  2. Oodles of Doodles (sold by Art with Heart and available in Spanish)
  3. Chill and Spill (sold by Art with Heart)
  4. Digging Deep by Rose Offner and Sherri Brisson (available in Spanish)

Other Resources

  1. Roc Solid Foundation – provides loaded backpacks for newly diagnosed families and playsets for children with cancer ages 1 to 9
  2. Love Like Landon provides unique assistance (like home cleaning services) to families with childhood cancer in Arizona.
  3. Here to Serve – provide fundraising assistance, a platform to help families update loved ones, and support for families needing to address other responsibilities (house cleaning, lawn mowing, etc.)
  4. Bridges of Gold – maintains a directory of childhood cancer organizations that offer a wide range of support and assistance.
  5. Monkey In My Chair – a tool for younger children missing school that helps the child feel included in the classroom and helps classmates understand what is happening
  6. The Gold Hope Project – provide a free photography session by partnering with a local photographer
  7. Icing Smiles – provides free birthday and milestone cakes for children with cancer and siblings
  8. Believe in Tomorrow Foundation – offers “respite housing” to childhood cancer families nationwide, but the houses are located in the mid-Atlantic region.

Honoring Every Story

Each journey matters. We celebrate the lives and legacies of those we serve, offering families peace, dignity, and heartfelt remembrance.

Learn how we honor your loved ones

Hospice El Paso is proud to be the first hospice in El Paso, and the only nonprofit hospice in our region We are dedicated to providing the highest-quality care to our patients and understand that every patient has unique needs.

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