One Visit. One Team.
There are moments in a child’s life that should not require a hospital visit: A morning spent in pain. An afternoon lost to waiting. A months-long delay for care that everyone knows is needed. Yet for too many families, these moments are routine.
Children with complex medical needs often find themselves in the emergency department not because their condition is unpredictable, but because there is no outpatient space equipped to meet them where they are. Others, facing something as common as tooth decay, wait months—sometimes close to a year—for an appointment that should have happened quickly.
Different children. Different needs. But the same underlying issue: care that exists in theory, yet is difficult to access in practice.
This is the gap the University of Rochester Medicine Golisano Children’s Integrated Care Center is designed to close.
The Center will be the focus of the 2026 Fund‑a‑Need at the Gala, with a philanthropic goal of $2.5 million to fully fund its construction, equipment, and furnishings. It represents a new model of care; one that brings together acute pediatric medical services and preventive dental care in a single, coordinated outpatient setting.
At its core, the idea is simple. Children should not have to choose between the right care and the only available place to receive it.
For children with conditions such as sickle cell disease, cancer, or complex chronic illness, the Center will provide a calm and familiar environment for services like infusion therapy, blood transfusions, IV hydration, and supportive treatment. These are not emergency needs. They are planned, predictable, and best delivered by the teams who already know the child and family. Yet today, in the absence of an outpatient option, families often turn to the emergency department, spending hours in an unfamiliar and stressful environment for care that could be provided more appropriately elsewhere.
“Our space to provide infusion therapy outside of the ED is very limited,” said Jeff Andolina, MD, professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology. The Integrated Care Center will be a game-changer for families to provide the help they need, quickly and in a welcoming space.”
For children with dental needs, the challenge is equally urgent, though often less visible. Tooth decay remains the most common chronic disease in children, and in Rochester, access to pediatric dental care is limited. The Eastman Institute for Oral Health sees roughly 17,000 children each year, with hundreds currently on a waitlist for an appointment. Some families wait several months to be seen, risking escalation of small oral health issues into emergencies.
The Integrated Care Center is designed to change that trajectory by embedding dental care directly into a pediatric medical environment. A child seen in primary care who needs a dental evaluation will not be referred out into a separate system and a long waitlist. Instead, that child can be seen the same day, within the same visit.
“Oral health is increasingly integrated into medicine, and it’s time our facilities reflect that change,” said Cynthia Wong, DMD, MS, chair of Pediatric Dentistry at Eastman Institute for Oral Health. “This Integrated Care Center will ensure that every child gets the dental care they need in a timely manner.”
The Center itself will be located adjacent to Golisano Children’s primary care practice, creating a seamless connection between services. It will include three pediatric medical treatment beds and three pediatric dental chairs, all within a shared, child-centered space. The medical side will support infusion therapies, transfusions, and outpatient care for complex conditions. The dental side will provide preventive and restorative services, with special attention to children who experience anxiety, developmental differences, or sensory sensitivities.
Just as importantly, the environment will be designed to support the whole child. Calming design features, sensory-adapted spaces, and Child Life support will help reduce stress and make care more approachable for children who may find traditional clinical settings overwhelming. The goal is not only to treat illness, but to create an experience that feels safe, familiar, and respectful of each child’s needs.
This integration is intentional. The same children who need coordinated medical care often face the greatest barriers to preventive services. The same families navigating complex medical conditions are also the ones juggling transportation challenges, work schedules, and limited access to specialty care. Bringing these services together removes friction and reduces the number of times families must repeat the process of getting care in the first place.
There is also a clear clinical connection between oral health and the conditions treated here. Children undergoing cancer treatment, for example, require dental clearance before therapy can begin. Children with sickle cell disease or immunocompromised conditions are especially vulnerable to dental infections, which can quickly become serious systemic issues. Having medical and dental providers in close proximity allows for real-time coordination that is not possible when care is fragmented across separate locations.
A pilot program has already demonstrated the potential of this approach. Among participating patients, emergency department visits declined, and no child required an ED visit for a scheduled transfusion.
As the Gala approaches, the Fund‑a‑Need moment will bring this vision into focus. It will be an opportunity to invest in something that does not yet exist, but that every child deserves: a place where care is not delayed, not fragmented, and not defined by barriers that can be removed.
