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Dana Buchman, the fashion designer, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Columbia Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council this past week for her work in founding the Promise Project, which helps underserved children with learning disabilities. Photos: Gloria Pazmiño
When Dana Buchman, fashion designer and creator of the Dana Buchman fashion label, learned that her daughter Charlotte had a learning disability, she became, in her own words, “distraught.”
“I didn’t know anything about it; I thought it was the end of the world.”
Those were the words Buchman used to describe how she felt as a mother to a young daughter who was falling behind in school.
“She couldn’t do numbers, she couldn’t keep up with what the teachers were saying, and she was becoming frustrated and distraught also.”
As a result, Buchman and her husband gathered together their resources and put their daughter through rigorous testing to determine what they could do to help her.
Meanwhile, Buchman wondered what a parent would do if their child was experiencing a similar situation and had limited or no resources. She asked herself, “What happens to the parents who don’t have the resources my husband and I did? What happens to the thousands of children who are struggling to learn, and don’t know what’s wrong?”
Since learning about her daughter’s learning disabilities, Buchman has gone on to fund the Promise Project, an organization that works with New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center to help underserved children with learning disabilities get the support they need to learn.
The program is based out of the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, where doctors evaluate children’s learning disabilities and make recommendations on the children’s best way to learn, depending on the nature and severity of their disability.
The program also provides a learning specialist who works with the parents to help them understand what’s happening to their child and to become involved with their child’s school to make sure their child gets what they need from the system.
This past Thurs. Nov 10th, Buchman shared her experience at the Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she received the Distinguished Service Award by the Columbia Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council.
“I’ve become possessed with doing something about it,” said Buchman. “Learning disabilities have nothing to do with how smart a child is. These children just learn differently from other children. When they are taught in an appropriate teaching style, they can learn.”
The Columbia Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council meets twice every year to present the Award for Distinguished Service to an individual whose work has made a singular impact on society’s health and well being.
Also being honored that day was Eugene Lang, American philanthropist and founder of the Lang Youth Medical program, which provides educational resources of New York Presbyterian Hospital for young people in Washington Heights who want to pursue careers in health sciences. Lang is also the founder of the “I Have A Dream” Foundation, which has provided college tuition to 15,000 children across the country.
Hoping to reach the families of children with learning disabilities in Northern Manhattan, Buchman said she hopes parents stay aware and involved in their children’s learning process. “Be alert; be aware of what your child may show signs of and try to catch it early. It will seem impossible at first, but children can learn.”
Buchman the mother would know. As she noted, “My daughter Charlotte is getting her Masters at Boston University today.”
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