Sargent Student Launches Non-Profit, Preemie to Pre-Med
(11/3/2020, The Daily Free Press)
“Lena Papadakis and her two triplet sisters were born premature at 32 weeks. For much of her childhood, she was in and out of Massachusetts General Hospital with chronic pneumonia and frequent surgeries.
But out of this distress, she grew to love the medical field and is now giving back to the very programs that saved her life.
Currently a pre-medical senior in Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Papadakis is the founder of the nonprofit Preemie to Pre-Med, a charity supporting child life departments in New England hospitals.
Papadakis said the organization began in August and officially launched Oct. 5 in response to the loss of volunteer teams, as well as cuts to funding, for medical programs like pediatrics as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her experience as a former patient, Papadakis said, makes her worry about families looking for care during this public health crisis.
“I was meeting a lot of parents that were extremely concerned about their kids that were most likely going to be hospitalized during the pandemic, and these are kids with chronic issues,” Papadakis said. “And I was wondering, ‘What impact would this have on this population of at-risk, vulnerable patients?”
So far, PTP has raised more than $3,300 through social media campaigning, and aims to raise $10,000 for MGH’s John Hancock Child Life and Wellness Program by May 2021.”