Courage Lion
The Courage Unlimited Corporation is a 501(c)(3) all volunteer charitable entity. The Courage Lion Program was established to develop and provide unique ideas to bring hope and bolster courage for critically ill, traumatized, and abused children in crisis.
According to statistics, there are over 500,000 children who enter critical care in the United States. To offer emotional support to these children, many renowned medical institutions have been using the Courage Lion Program. The positive results of the program have excited medical professionals, child life specialists, and care givers. (To the left is a picture of the lions children are given to aid in their recovery.)
The partnership between AIPT and the Courage Lion Program was developed as a result of the proactive community efforts of Courage Lion's John Ramming and our own Janet Van Cleve, AIPT's Community Outreach Specialist. In September 2006, Community Outreach and the AIPT Volunteer Committee invited Mr. Ramming to show AIPT staff a presentation on the Courage Lion Program. The presentation greatly affected AIPT staff and inspired us to help. AIPT volunteers came forward to donate their time by assisting with some administrative duties of the program.
With the help of our volunteers, the Courage Lion Program has experienced phenomenal growth. AIPT has been an essential part of that success by:
- Providing administrative support for correspondence, proposals, press articles, management of a program newsletter, launches at local hospitals, etc.
- Coordinating the establishment of a new Web site.
- Participating at Courage Lion Program launches at several local critical care hospitals.
- Making it possible for the Courage Lion Program to speak to local business organizations that provide financial support to the program.
- Commencing efforts to make it possible for the Courage Lion Program to provide a quarterly e-newsletter.
The program is offered through a network of the following institutions:
- John Hopkins Children Center
- University of Maryland Medical Center
- Children’s Hospital at Sinai
- Kennedy-Krieger Institute
- St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center
- Children’s National Medical Center
- United States Naval Hospital at Portsmouth
- Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
- University of Virginal Medical Center
- Walter Reed Army Medical Center
- Maryland State Police (all medical evacuation helicopters)
- Maryland National Guard including air element (family support services for children of wounded or killed service members and children in crisis)
- St. Vincent’s Children’s Center
- St. Mary’s Infant Home
- United States Navy Chaplains ( used as part of their counseling and military family support mission)
- Courage Kids Community, a peer counseling program
- Carroll Hospice (for children experiencing grief)
AIPT is proud to announce that on October 27, 2006 we were recognized at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC and St. Joseph Medical Clinic in Towson, MD for our volunteer work benefiting the Courage Lion Program. It is the dedication of AIPT volunteers that has helped make the Courage Lion Program the fastest growing charitable therapeutic aide program in the nation.
AIPT’s future plans to support the Courage Lion Program include:
- Creating a proposal template for potential contributors.
- Creating a packet of basic program information to send out to inquiring hospitals.
- Researching and identifying possible corporate, foundation, and individual contributors.
