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Social Work and Care Coordination Services
Social workers are an important part of your child’s healthcare team. Our team is highly experienced and skilled in working with medically fragile children and their families.
When your child is admitted to one of Blythedale’s programs, your family is assigned a social worker who will work closely with you throughout your stay at Blythedale. We will help you cope with the emotional stress of the next phase of your child’s recovery while adjusting to a new care team. Your social worker collaborates closely with your child’s care team to ensure that you are well-informed each step of the way from admission to discharge.
Beginning at the time of admission, your social worker will work with a nurse care manager to help you plan for discharge. Following a thorough assessment of your child’s needs and resources in the community, we will guide you in the development of a comprehensive discharge plan. By working with your insurance plan, we will help you to determine which providers may be in your network and arrange for any necessary referrals, evaluations or assessments prior to your child’s discharge home.
Your social worker can also assist you with many other issues that impact your child or your family. If you have a question or a concern and are not sure how to address it, please stop by our department on the first floor and we will be happy to help you.
Contact Information:
- Katie Walsh, L.C.S.W., Director of Social Work and Care Coordination
- KWalsh@Blythedale.org
- (914) 831-2467
Social Work and Care Coordination Services Staff

Our social workers are licensed in the state of New York and have expertise in many areas, including palliative care, therapeutic crisis intervention, school social work, and early childhood programs. We work closely with the Inpatient, Day Hospital, and Long Term Care teams to provide emotional support and discharge planning services to families. Our inpatient social workers are paired with a nurse care manager who will focus on the clinical aspects of our child’s discharge plan. The department also includes our Patient Ambassador who is available to support parents with any questions or concerns related to the hospital or the care team. We welcome you to call or visit our department on the first floor, where you will be greeted by one of our two bilingual administrative assistants.
Treatments We Support
Acquired Brain Injury
Blythedale Children’s Hospital is a longtime leader in the treatment of children recovering from brain injury including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), post-infectious diseases such as meningitis or Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis (ANMDAR), brain tumors and stroke. The extraordinary...
Learn moreAssistive Technology
Assistive Technology expands opportunities for children with special needs to increase participation in school settings, build social interactions, and access their environments in a variety of specialized ways. Blythedale’s dedicated team includes Assistive Technology experts from speech...
Learn moreCancer Rehabilitation
A customized therapeutic regimen enables patients to regain their strength and function while undergoing or recovering from surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. We recognize the vital importance of an ongoing relationship with the child’s referring oncology team, and we participate...
Learn moreCardiac Rehabilitation
As more infants and children are undergoing complex cardiac surgical procedures to repair congenital conditions such as hypoplastic left heart syndrome, tetralogy of fallot, transposition of the great vessels, coarctation of the aorta, or cardiac injury due to myocarditis or traumatic injury,...
Learn moreComplex Chronic Conditions
Many children come to Blythedale with multiple, complex chronic conditions that impact their function. These chronic conditions - including cerebral palsy, CHARGE syndrome, congenital and chromosomal abnormalities, severe epilipsy - can complicate recovery after surgeries, acute illnesses or...
Learn moreComplex Post-Surgical Rehabilitation
Patients are admitted for acute medical and rehabilitative inpatient care following major trauma (such as head and spinal injuries, extensive soft tissue trauma/burns, vascular injuries, major muscle/ligament injuries, amputations or fractures), extensive scoliosis surgery, selective dorsal...
Learn moreComplex Wound and Burn Management
The child’s clinical team works collaboratively with parents and other caregivers to identify developmentally appropriate medical and therapeutic goals. This team is also committed to meeting the psychological and social challenges that accompany burn and wound treatment and recovery,...
Learn moreNeuromuscular Disorders
The goal of our Neuromuscular Disorders program is to help children maximize their functional abilities through comprehensive medical care and rehabilitation, utilizing state-of-the-art technology, environmental modifications and adaptive equipment. Following an intake evaluation, the child’s...
Learn morePost Acute Neonatal Care
Whether requiring ongoing medical management and rehabilitation due to extreme prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, congenital cardiac disease, pulmonary hypertension , hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, short gut syndrome, feeding disorders or other complications occurring in the neonatal period...
Learn morePre/Post Organ & Stem Cell Transplant
These children require the highest level attention of a multidisciplinary team of pediatricians, pediatric physiatrists, nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists and physical, occupational, speech and feeding therapists familiar with the problems inherent in recovery from and living with a transplant. We...
Learn morePulmonary Hypertension
Blythedale’s expertise in caring for the most medically fragile of children is evident in our Pulmonary Hypertension rehabilitation program. Children come to Blythedale directly from the Intensive Care Unit while receiving intravenous, inhaled, subcutaneous or oral medications for pulmonary...
Learn morePulmonary Rehabilitation
The goal of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation program is weaning from technology completely or to the least invasive support to facilitate the family's transition to home. Parents are involved in the care of their child every step of the way, and learn proper use of equipment, care of tracheostomy,...
Learn moreSpecialized Feeding
Children referred to Blythedale for Therapeutic Feeding have wide-ranging conditions including prematurity, short-gut syndrome, brain injury, oral-motor dysfunction, aversion behaviors, cognitive deficits or post-surgical complications. Services for these children include evaluations for both...
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