Omar’s Dream Foundation enables hospitalized and medically-supervised children to remotely attend school allowing them to stay connected to their teachers and classmates. Omar’s Dream Program is funded by Omar’s Dream Foundation and, thus, is free to qualified students and their educators.

Nate was a patient at Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital who used Omar’s Dream Program during his treatment. He is a regular at the annual Omar’s Dream Run now that he has completed his treatment and an ambassador of the program.

Fosters familiar relationships

School-aged children who are hospitalized or under a physician’s care long-term (two weeks or longer) due to health conditions quickly can fall behind in their studies and feel isolated from their classmates and teachers.  These children will greatly benefit emotionally by maintaining regular contact with their school friends and teacher(s) through Omar’s Dream Program.

While many hospitals offer on-site access to state-mandated education programs, Omar’s Dream Program allows hospitalized students to continue education with their own home school with familiar classmates and educators.

With the help of the student’s teacher(s), any hospitalized student with a laptop and an internet connection can attend class lectures, assemblies, music, and take part in group projects. With such sustained contact, when the time comes to reintegrate the student with his or her class, the integration is smooth.  The returning student feels that they have not missed any significant time in education, social relationships and is not playing catch-up, and can focus on moving forward with other students in class.

Continuation after leaving the hospital

Once a student is discharged from the hospital, he or she may not be cleared to return to his or her home school. In these situations, Omar’s Dream Program ensures education continuity for the student.

Eases re-entry into regular classroom

Enabling a hospitalized child to attend their home school remotely has far reaching benefits beyond getting an education.  Children undergoing sustained medical treatment feel isolated and want to establish a normal routine in their lives. Providing electronic access to the student’s home school allows that student to maintain consistent relationships with his teachers and friends, thereby sustaining the normalcy that these patients desire.