Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT)

Providing comfort and support for children with serious illnesses

Phone: 877-261-7228

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team 

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) at Nicklaus Children’s specializes in providing comfort and support for children with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses and their families. 

The team’s goal is to work with the family and care providers to enhance quality of life by providing the child relief from symptoms of serious illness, while also promoting stress reduction for the entire family. 

A Team Approach to Care 

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team has expertise in providing comfort care to relieve symptoms of disease and side effects of treatments. In short, it helps the child and family gain strength to move forward with daily life.

The team works directly with each patient’s doctors and nurses to provide an added layer of support. The team can assist children of any age and at any stage of a serious illness to support the patient and family. 

The team includes:

  • Critical care doctors
  • Nurses
  • Child life specialists
  • Music therapists
  • Social workers
  • Spiritual advisors

Supporting Families in Bereavement 

When a family experiences the loss of a child, the surviving members benefit from supportive services that honor the memory of the child and help the grieving family find a path forward. 

Nicklaus Children’s bereavement services strive to support the entire family through individual and family counseling, support groups, memorial programs and initiatives, and more.  

Nico’s Promise - A Journey of Hope and Healing: Nicklaus Children’s Nico’s Promise bereavement program offers assistance to parents, siblings, grandparents and other family members who have experienced the loss of a loved one. These services, funded through generous donations, help families celebrate the life of their child and honor his or her memory by resuming productive and meaningful lives. 

Preserving Memories through 3D Technology: To support families grieving the loss of a child, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT), in collaboration with the Cardiovascular Surgery Advanced Projects Laboratory (APL), offers three-dimensional images and printed models that serve as memorial keepsakes to honor a beloved child.

This initiative brings together a compassionate team of palliative care professionals and skilled biomedical engineers to extend support to families during their most difficult time and offer a unique way to memorialize and honor their child’s legacy. 

Support During Serious Illness

PACT supports families of children with a wide range of life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. These may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Brain disorders
  • Cancer and blood disorders
  • Genetic disorders 
  • Heart conditions
  • Lung conditions
  • Orthopedic and neuromuscular disorders
  • Prematurity

A Family-Centered Approach

A family-centered care team is one that spends time listening to the patient and family, working to make sure all involved know and understand care and support options. With close communication, families are better able to choose options that are in line with their values, traditions and culture. This improves the well-being of the entire family. The team offers help with relief from symptoms, including pain, lack of energy, depression, loss of appetite and problems with sleep; as well as providing emotional, developmental and spiritual support. 

Part of the Child’s Treatment Plan

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team can offer support along with other treatments for disease. This approach benefits both the child and the family by relieving the pain and other symptoms that can make facing a serious illness so difficult. 

Getting Started

Ask your child’s doctor whether the Pediatric Advanced Care Team is right for your family.

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