Support Services

If you have any questions or concerns that have not been answered to your satisfaction, or if you have a special need, contact a member of the Patient Advocacy staff. Patient advocates can help you understand your rights as a parent. They will address concerns you might have about your child’s care, the hospital or any of its policies and procedures. 

Patient Advocacy

Location: Main Hospital, Room 540 on Level 5 (near the main lobby)

Opening Times: Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm.

Contact Telephone: You may ask your child’s nurse to contact a patient advocate or you may call directly on (631) 444-2880. If you wish to speak to a patient advocate during evenings or weekends, please ask your child’s nurse for assistance. Additionally, you can mail in your concerns related to your experience to: 

Contact By Mail: Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Department of Patient Advocacy Stony Brook, NY 11794-7522 

If your concerns have not been addressed to your satisfaction, or if you prefer, you may contact The Joint Commission at (800) 994-6610 or via email at complaint@jointcommission.org. You also may report concerns to the New York State Department of Health, (800) 804-5447, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as outlined in the booklet, “Your Rights as a Hospital Patient in New York State.” 

Stony Brook University Hospital offers free interpreter services to you and your family during your stay or when visiting our hospital. Interpretive services include dual handset telephones, on-site Spanish interpreters, American Sign Language interpreters and video interpretation.

Contact Patient Advocacy: (631) 444-2880 to make arrangements or speak with your nurse.

In order to help ensure that your child’s stay at Stony Brook Children’s goes smoothly, shortly after your child is admitted, an RN case manager or a social worker will meet with you to coordinate your child’s care and plan for a safe discharge.

Depending on your needs, we can help to: 

• Give your insurance company the information needed to access your covered benefits 

• Facilitate admission to other facilities (rehabilitation centers, psychiatric centers, etc.)  

• Arrange for home care, medical equipment, dialysis and home IV therapy 

• Provide emotional support to help you and your child deal with an illness, loss or a crisis 

• Refer you to community agencies and services 

• Provide referrals to community agencies for benefits and entitlements 

• Provide assistance with advance directives 

• Arrange hospice and palliative care services 

• Provide information and support if you or your child is involved in an abuse or maltreatment situation 

• Provide you with information regarding treatment if you have substance abuse problems 

Contact Care Management: (631) 444-2552

Available:

Monday through Friday: 8 am to 5 pm

Saturday: 8 am to 4 pm

Sunday and after hours: Please leave a voicemail message, and a staff member will return your call the following business day. If you need to speak to a case manager or social worker urgently, please ask your child’s nurse to assist you. 

Case managers and social workers are available seven days a week.

Stony Brook’s certified child life specialists work to make a child’s hospital visit more comfortable, anxiety-free, child-friendly and, in many cases, fun. This is one of the special ways that a children’s hospital is different to an adult hospital.

Child life specialists are certified healthcare professionals with a strong background in child development and family systems. 

Child life specialists help children cope with hospitalization through play, preparation, education and self-expression activities like art and storytelling. They understand the important role the family plays in healing, and provide support to parents, siblings and other family members as well. 

At Stony Brook Children’s, Child Life services are available to all patients. Most typically, they are used before an operation or test to familiarize children with procedures in age-appropriate language; to help children through potentially painful tests or procedures, for example in the emergency department or radiology; and to help children deal with the stress of cancer or chronic illness. 

Stony Brook Children’s works to ensure that children do not fall behind in school during their hospitalization. We have two classrooms as dedicated teaching spaces. With the help of child life specialists, social workers and case managers, we assist parents in connecting with the school districts to provide education to school-aged children. 

In addition, our nationally recognized School Re-Entry Program helps students with cancer and blood-related disorders to make a smooth transition back to school, addressing the wide range of concerns of students, teachers and other classmates. 

Stony Brook houses a fully equipped Blood Bank. Blood is a free gift from a community of donors; however, there are charges to the patient for processing and testing. Our Blood Bank collects many different types of blood donations. An autologous (self) donation is when a patient pre-deposits his or her own blood for scheduled surgery. Directed donations, where friends and family donate blood for a specific patient, can also be arranged. Voluntary blood donations are always welcome and help the Blood Bank to maintain an adequate blood supply.

Please note that screening tests are performed on donated blood to ensure blood safety. It may take up to a week from the day of donation before it can be used for transfusion. For more information about transfusion and for anyone wishing to donate the precious, lifesaving gift of blood, please call.

Contact the Blood Donor Center: (631) 444-2634 or (631) 444-DONATE (4-3662).

While your child is a patient at Stony Brook Children’s, you can have access to information contained in your child’s medical records from a physician or a patient advocate. If your child is transferred to another facility, a copy of his or her medical record accompanies your child. All other requests for release of information need to include a signed authorization from the patient or his or her legal guardian and are handled by the Health Information Management Department. 

Stony Brook has a patient portal, “MyHealtheLife” which is a secure, online tool for patients to view their health information, message doctors and request appointments. It also contains medical information and patient education tools.

Parents can access their child’s medical records only if their child is under age 13. Patients ages 13 to 17 can have private access to their own health records through our secure patient portal. This is to protect the privacy of medical information of children over the age of 12 — especially important when adolescents seek care independent of their parents. Ask any member of your healthcare team for more information and to create an account.

Ethics consultation is a service offered to patients, their families and those who play a key role in decisions about patient care. Stony Brook Children’s Hospital is committed to shared decision-making and honoring patients’ wishes concerning medical treatment. Ethics consultants are available 24 hours a day to offer supportive counsel to help clarify and resolve ethical problems that might arise. Dial “0” for the hospital switchboard to request a consultant.

The Chaplaincy Department recognizes the importance of an individual’s emotional and spiritual needs, as well as their impact on well-being.

Chaplains are clinically trained to care for the human spirit and engage those they encounter by assessing their spiritual and emotional needs, serving as advocates, listeners and counselors, among other roles. Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Spiritual Care providers are a diverse group: Catholic, Jewish, Islamic and Protestant chaplains who are available and able to assist in connecting individuals with other faiths and traditions. 

Contact: Call the hospital operator or ask your child’s healthcare team to page the chaplain. The team can also arrange a visit for you.

Location: The Interfaith Chapel is located on Level 5 near the entrance to the main hospital, and all are welcome.

The Pediatric Palliative Care team can help you and your family by assisting with pain management and other difficult symptoms and challenging decision-making related to serious illness. The palliative care team works closely with your child’s primary care team to address the specific palliative needs that can arise when being treated for a serious illness.

Patients and families can contact the Palliative Care team through any member of the primary treatment team. 

Palliative Care Information Act 

New York State requires that healthcare practitioners offer information and counseling to patients and their families with serious illness. This includes information about prognosis, the range of options appropriate to the treatment, the risks and benefits associated with those options, and comprehensive pain and symptom management related to a serious illness.

• HealthConnect®: Provides telephone access to a professional staff member who can help with healthcare questions and assist with appointment scheduling and physician referrals. Services are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 6 pm, by calling (631) 444-4000. 

• Cancer Helpline: A telephone service staffed by oncology nurses who can provide information and help answer questions. Services are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 6 pm, by calling (800) 862-2215. 

• For general pediatric appointments, to find a physician or get more information about individual services for your child, call (631) 444-KIDS (5437).