Meet Our Family Advisory Council

Colette Badeaux

Colette Badeaux joined the Children's Cancer Hospital in 2006 as a nurse in the outpatient clinic. She wears many hats, working with in the pediatric neuroooncology clinic and childhood cancer survivors clinic as well as in the non-neural solid tumor clinic with emphasis on neuroblastoma.  She also is the chairperson for the LEAN Kaisen performance improvement project within the clinic.

Colette applied for the Family Advisory Council in order to educate other employees and patients at MD Anderson about the Children's Cancer Hospital and to help make the institution a more inviting place for children with cancer.

"I want to help design, implement and evaluate the changes in all policies affecting all aspects of the Children's Cancer Hospital," says Badeaux. "I also want to help make the Children's Cancer Hospital a benchmark that can be modeled throughout the institution."

Donna Herrera Bell

Donna Bell is a nurse practitioner and has been serving the leukemia/lymphoma section at the Children’s Cancer Hospital for more than a year. She has experience not only as a nurse practitioner, but also an administrator working on program development. She has practiced in both a pediatric hospital and an adult hospital with a pediatric program prior to coming to the Children’s Cancer Hospital.

Donna comes to the Family Advisory Council with previous experience with family-centered care.

“It’s a great opportunity to help build and promote building the philosophy of family-centered care at the Children’s Cancer Hospital,” says Donna. “Patients and families are our partners in care, and they have a very important and unique perspective on how care impacts not only the patient, but the family as well.”

Carl and Sherree Buckland

Carl and Sherree Buckland live in Friendswood, Texas, and are parents to Alexis, 15, Sarah, 16, Faran, 17, and Chad, 20. In April 2009, their youngest, Alexis, was diagnosed with fibroblastic osteosarcoma. She underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, limb-salvage surgery and rehabilitation. 

Now, Alexis continues to go to physical therapy to strengthen herself physically after the surgeries she had to remove the tumor. She also desires to start a cancer support group at her high school and is involved on the Brass Plum Fashion Board for Nordstrom.

Carl and Sherree hope to use their perspective as parents to assist other families during their cancer experience. They remember being overwhelmed with their daughter’s treatment and being unaware of resources provided by the Children’s Cancer Hospital. The Bucklands want to help better educate families about the services available to them at the hospital to make their experience better.

Gerardo Camarillo

Gerardo Camarillo and his wife of 22 years, Dilma, are parents to 11-year-old Ivana, who received treatment at MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital as a toddler. Ivana was diagnosed in 1999 with a rare chromosome transposition and acute lymphocytic leukemia that gave Ivana only a 10% chance of survival. After several rounds of chemotherapy, Ivana was one of the first patients to receive a cord blood transplant when she was only 1 ½ years old. Ivana beat the odds and thrives as an adolescent, enjoying every new trend that comes along.

Gerardo credits the Children’s Cancer Hospital for giving his family all the assistance they needed through what they describe as a nightmare situation. Nonetheless, he recalls that there were areas of improvement, especially when it came to interacting outside of the pediatric services into the adult services.  Gerardo hopes to assist in the improvement of these areas as well as address the fears that newly diagnosed families face.

Cip and Rhonda Cardenas

Cip and Rhonda Cardenas have been married for 18 years and refer to each other as their best friend. Their relationship only strengthened when one of their three daughters, Katy, was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in April 2003 at the age of 18. She went through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy at MD Anderson, but the cancer continued to progress. In May 2004, Katy lost her battle with cancer.

Cip and Rhonda have chosen to use their experience with loss by serving on the Children’s Cancer Hospital’s Supportive Care Committee to improve care for families facing end-of-life situations. They decided to join the Family Advisory Council in 2010 to better the experience for all families coming to the Children’s Cancer Hospital and make it as non-stressful as possible. Outside of their work with MD Anderson, Cip is a retail manager and Rhonda is an accountant. They enjoy spending any extra time with their other daughters and two grandchildren.

Tracy Cimo

Tracy Cimo is the associate director for clinical nursing for the George Foreman Pediatric and Adolescent Inpatient Unit. Tracy has over three years of leadership experience in women’s and children’s services lines. Her clinical experience in pediatrics is as both a clinical nurse and nurse educator. Tracy obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University and her Master of Science in Clinical Leadership and Health Systems Administration from The University of Texas.

In her spare time Tracy loves spending time with her two boys as well as reading and traveling. She is looking forward to working with patients, families, and staff to lead exceptional nurses in extraordinary practice to contribute to the Children’s Cancer Hospital goal of eliminating cancer in children.

David B. Coe

David Coe is the division administrator for the Division of Pediatrics and Children’s Cancer Hospital at MD Anderson. He has been working at the Children’s Cancer Hospital for close to 17 years, and his role involves overseeing the entire budget for the division. David was part of the first group who traveled to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to see family-centered care working within a hospital.

Upon returning from the group’s visit, David went to work to implement a family-centered care philosophy at the Children’s Cancer Hospital, bringing on board Patty Wells to spearhead the effort.

“Starting a Family Advisory Council is an exciting opportunity to bring families into the operation of the Children’s Cancer Hospital,” says David. “The Family Advisory Council is a unique chance to bring further growth and change to the Children’s Cancer Hospital and MD Anderson.”

Since David has a strong understanding of the daily operations and budget allocations, he will bring a good financial perspective to the council.

Manale Elewah

Manale Elewah is originally from Alexandria, Egypt, but has lived in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for almost 20 years. She is married with three daughters, Farida, Marwa and Fadila. Her youngest child, Fadila, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2003 while living in Abu Dhabi. She received initial treatment in the UAE, but when Fadila relapsed in the central nervous system in February 2006, she and her family flew to the United States to receive treatment by Dr. Michael Rytting at the Children’s Cancer Hospital. While Fadila and Manale are here in the U.S., most of their family remain in the UAE, except Manale’s oldest daughter who moved here to attend the University of Houston.

Prior to coming to Houston, Manale worked as an environmental engineer in Abu Dabi. She has also done work, in the past, with the United Nations Environment Program. Now, Manale is juggling new roles. Not only is she Fadila’s primary caregiver, she also served on the Family-Centered Care steering committee and is instrumental in providing support to other international patients and families at the Children’s Cancer Hospital.

Sara Farris

Sara Farris joined MD Anderson in 2006 and has been a member of the Family Advisory Council since 2008. She serves as the communications specialist for the Children’s Cancer Hospital and oversees media relations, the Children’s Cancer Hospital website, social media and other communications collateral to patients and families.

As a 6-year volunteer at MD Anderson and former caregiver, Sara brings her own personal experience to the council. She hopes to better serve pediatric patients and their families in her communications role by learning from the members’ insights shared at council’s meetings. She also serves on the Adolescent and Young Adult Advisory Council that involves young adult patients at MD Anderson. When she isn’t at work, Sara has a variety of hobbies including riding horses, playing golf, skiing, volunteering and playing with her Jack Russell Terrier, Macy.

Samantha Garcia

Samantha Garcia is mom to a full house in Lake Jackson. She and her husband of 20 years serve as parents to two daughters, ages 19 and 16, a son who is 15 years old and an 18-year-old niece—not to mention their two dogs and a cat.

Samantha’s youngest daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2002. As a result of her cancer, Emily had to have part of her right leg amputated in 2003. After a recurrence in the lungs, Emily went through an intensive treatment plan that included chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.

During her six years as a patient at the Children’s Cancer Hospital, Samantha and Emily have taken part in activities such as the rehabilitation ski trip, Camp A.O.K. (Anderson’s Older Kids), the Children’s Art Project, Candlelighters and many others.

“I want to help make a difference in the lives of current and future patients and give back some of what I have received,” says Samantha.

She brings to the council experience serving alongside school and church boards and committees.

Rosie Gonzalez

Rosie and her husband, Steven, Sr., have been married for nearly 20 years and have two children, Steven, 16, and Sabrina, 14. Their son, Steven, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 12. Steven needed a bone marrow transplant to improve his chances of survival, but there was not a single match in the registry for him. Fortunately, Steven was able to undergo a cord blood transplant, after several rounds of chemotherapy, and has been cancer-free ever since. He is active on the robotics team at his high school and hopes to one day be a professional video game developer. Steven is also involved in Boy Scouts and is working on his eagle project with the Children’s Cancer Hospital.

Rosie wants to use her experience to help other families going through cancer. She refers to a quote by Maya Angelou, “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.” She hopes to apply that by serving on the Family Advisory Council and improving the experience for families diagnosed with cancer in the future.

Gail Goodwin

Gail Goodwin has been a part of the communications office at MD Anderson since January of 2000. She initially worked with the Children’s Art Project and Volunteer Services, but added the Children’s Cancer Hospital to her list of responsibilities in 2005. As a program manager for external communications, Gail serves as the editor of the quarterly Family Matters online newsletter for pediatric caregivers, and also the Children’s Cancer Hospital Newsletter for regional pediatricians. In addition, she often writes about pediatric issues for several MD Anderson publications and develops brochures and videos for the hospital.

Gail, who is a survivor of brain cancer, enjoys the relationships she has made by being a member of the Family Advisory Council. While she admits to learning more about the Children’s Cancer Hospital at every meeting, she also feels that she brings information and concern to the table.

“I’ve been an MD Anderson employee for a long time,” she says, “but coming here as a patient is a whole new world. When I am at the hospital for my doctor appointments, lab work and MRIs, I get a sense of what other patients go through during their treatment here. Working with the families of our pediatric patients is another eye-opener for me. I can truly empathize with all of these dedicated families.”

Steve Henley

Steve Henley and his wife Dianne live in Dallas, Texas, and are parents to Lauren, a 5-year cancer survivor. Lauren, now age 16, was diagnosed in July 2005 with embryonal sarcoma of the liver and underwent surgery and chemotherapy before reaching remission. They chose bringing Lauren to MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital over keeping her in Dallas and say it’s the best choice they could have made. Lauren has suffered no long term side effects and is currently active in dance, cheerleading and track at her high school.

As a member of the Family Advisory Council, Steve would like to see how he can assist the hospital in finding ways to support out-of-town families trying to cope with a childhood cancer diagnosis and keeping the child’s life as normal as possible. Working for an airlines, Steve makes a roundtrip flight each month from Dallas to participate in the FAC meetings.

Hallie Immroth

Hallie Immroth and her husband, Andy, live in Houston and have spent many years at the Children's Cancer Hospital. One of their two sons, Aidan, had neurofibromatosis and was diagnosed at 20 months with brain cancer. After fighting through several relapses, Aidan passed away in 2010 at the age of 13 from his cancer. Between chemotherapy rounds and multiple surgeries, Aidan was in an out of the hospital quite a bit. During his care here, Aidan interacted with the child life specialists and became involved with the Children’s Art Project and the Arts in Medicine Program. His artwork has been selected for various CAP products, and he has been featured in videos related to his artwork with the Arts in Medicine Program.

“We were able to celebrate Aidan’s passion for art through CAP and Arts in Medicine, which allowed our family to focus on positive activities versus a singular focus on battling cancer,” says Hallie.

Hallie says she is happy to be a part of the Family Advisory Council.

“I have gained knowledge and insights over the last few years that I would like to put to good use for other families,” says Hallie. “It would be an honor to know that I helped make things just a little bit easier for families who are new to the experience of coping with the impact cancer has on the family.”

Shanicca Joshua

Shanicca Joshua joined the Children’s Cancer Hospital in 2008 as a school re-entry counselor before taking over as the Director for Pediatric Education in 2009. She has more than 10 years of experience in education, starting out as an elementary and middle grades classroom teacher and moving up to serve as Middle School Assistant Principal for Instruction. Following her teaching career, she became a National Mathematics Consultant for a major textbook publishing house.

Shanicca has restructured the education program at the Children’s Cancer Hospital to better serve the needs of its patients, a majority who are receiving outpatient care. She is currently leading the in-hospital school through the national accreditation process. Shanicca hopes to learn more about the needs of the patients she serves by participating in the Family Advisory Council.  

Colleen Leonard

Colleen Leonard started at MD Anderson as a nursing extern in 2003. Upon graduation, she joined MD Anderson full-time where she has been a staff nurse for five years and recently was promoted to Clinical Resource Nurse. She is excited about her new position because she is involved in nursing sensitive outcomes, which includes patient and family satisfaction.  One of Colleen’s goals is to provide more education on the inpatient unit about family-centered care.  

“While we promote family-centered care, I think sometimes we get busy on the unit and forget about the 'little things' that can make a patient and their family feel better.”  

Colleen says she joined the Family Advisory Council to be a part of a team that can bring changes within the hospital.  She believes family-centered care is vital for relationship building between staff and families and hopes to bring back insights from the council to her staff and further enhance care on the inpatient unit.  

Val Marshall

Val Marshall joined the Family Advisory Council in 2010 after spending a year caring for her son, Addison, who has acute lymphocytic leukemia. Addison was originally diagnosed in May 2009 at the Children’s Cancer Hospital and relapsed in April 2010. Anyone keeping up with Addison, though, will know that cancer is just a blip on his radar screen. He continues to work out with his football teammates, stay involved with his Boy Scouts troop and playing with his dog, Pineapple. Val and her husband, Jack, have another son, Austin, who attends Texas A&M University.

Since Val and her family are in the midst of active treatment, she hopes that she can provide timely insights into the day-to-day life of the hospital and what patients are going through. She wants to use her experience to help other families and wants to find ways to assist families who don’t have a built-in support system within their community or who come from out of town for treatment.

Holly Meredith

Holly Meredith and her husband, James, have been married for 20 years and have two sons, Warren, 17, and Dalton, 11. At the age of 2, Warren was diagnosed with paraspinal brachial plexus undifferentiated sarcoma and came to MD Anderson for treatment by Dr. Ater. He endured many rounds of radiation and chemotherapy and has now been cancer free for 13 years. He returns to the Childhood Cancer Survivors Clinic at MD Anderson for long-term follow up care.

Warren is a Life Scout and currently working on his Eagle Scout Project. He plays the trumpet in the Taylor High School Marching Band, and this year, he is a member of the National Honor Society. He also rode in the MS 150 and likes to skateboard and hang out with his buddies when he isn’t at school.

Holly works as a speech language pathologist for Katy ISD and volunteers with many of her sons’ activities. Her goal as a member of the Family Advisory Council is to provide perspective as a parent of a long-term survivor and continue the discussions of the ongoing needs of a family in that position. She also wants to assist families in finding the many resources available to them. Holly hopes to use my experience working with special needs families to relate to the families in diagnosis, treatment and long-term care at MD Anderson.

Dawn Mortus

Dawn Mortus has been married for 23 years to her husband, Jerry, and has four children ages 12 to 17. When Jerry retired from the Navy in 2007, the family moved to Katy, which Dawn looks back on as a divine move. In March 2009, one of their daughters, Caitlyn, was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma and was admitted to MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital. After going through several rounds of chemotherapy, Caitlyn was declared cancer free in August 2009. Caitlyn, now 14, has returned to her active lifestyle of cheerleading, soccer, gymnastics, tumbling and track.

Dawn credits the Children’s Cancer Hospital with making Caitlyn’s experience as pleasant as possible. She decided to join the Family Advisory Council in 2010 to give back to MD Anderson and help other families. She says she wants to help so that other families can feel the love and support she felt during Caitlyn’s treatments at the hospital.

Cesar Nunez, M.D.

Cesar Nunez, M.D., joined MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital in 2004 and is an assistant professor specializing in pediatric leukemia and lymphoma. Cesar also is the Director of the Pediatric Clinical and Translational Research Center, and a pediatric representative to MD Anderson’s Global Academic Programs. One of Cesar’s primary focuses is to coordinate collaborations between the Children’s Cancer Hospital and several international institutions.

Cesar joined the Family Advisory Council in 2010. He hopes his participation on the council will help bring several common ideas to fruition that will benefit patients and their families. Currently he is working with parents on developing an annual Pediatric Survivors Day and helping with the design of the new pediatric floor.

Michelle “Missy” Ramirez

Missy Ramirez and her husband Roger have been married for 17 years and live in Katy, Texas. When their son Jacob was 15 months old, he was diagnosed with Juvenile Pilocystic Astrocytoma, which is a tumor on the optic nerve. He came to the Children’s Cancer Hospital for treatment in April of 2000. With Dr. Ater as his pediatric oncologist, Jacob underwent chemotherapy and surgery to treat the brain tumor. Although Jacob relapsed at the age of five, he is now nine years old and doing well.

“MD Anderson and the Children’s Cancer Hospital helped save our son,” says Missy. “I have always wanted to give back and the Family Advisory Council, I feel, is a wonderful way to help those who have always helped us.”

Like many families, the Ramirez family spent countless days getting to know the inpatient unit and outpatient clinic. Missy also had the opportunity to meet many other parents who had children with cancer.

“One of the most devastating things a parent could hear is, ‘Your child has cancer.’ It is stressful and life changing to the entire family,” says Missy. “My goal is to give the staff at the Children’s Cancer Hospital a parent’s perspective so that they can help other patients, parents, and families through this most difficult time in their lives.”

Mae Reyer

Mae Reyer is the Patient Care Nurse Manager for the Robin Bush Child and Adolescent Clinic and the Pediatric Ambulatory Treatment Center. She has been with MD Anderson since January 2005. Mae has clinical experience in pediatric intensive care nursing at large academic medical center institutions. She holds her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from The University of Texas Medical Branch and is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Nursing.

Julie Segovia

Julie Segovia is the Director of Clinical Services for MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital.  Julie worked with children and families at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital prior to joining MD Anderson three years ago.  She understands that each family’s experience is unique and her role is to ensure that staff members have both the knowledge and resources to guide and support each family member through their individual experiences and needs.   

Julie is responsible for providing strategic leadership including all aspects of clinical operations, nursing practice, professional development, customer service, finance, human resources and quality outcome management.  She will contribute to the Family Advisory Council by sharing MD Anderson’s institutional goals with the council, bridging alliances with staff, and offering resources to priority projects identified by the council.  Julie’s belief is that patients and families are our customers, so it is important to develop goals that align with services that are important to patients and families.  She feels privileged to have been selected to join the council this year and looks forward to working with the team.

Angela Simmons

Angela Simmons is a Certified Public Accountant with 24 years experience in hospital operations, finance and public accounting for healthcare entities. For the past fourteen years, Angela has held the position of Director of Clinical Revenue and Reimbursement at MD Anderson Cancer Center. However, in 2009, she gained a new perspective about hospital operations as her son, David, was diagnosed with childhood lymphoma.

Angela plans to use her professional and personal experience to help other parents fight insurance disputes and obtain coverage for important treatment services. She is working now to assist in coverage for cancer related fertility preservation services. On a personal note, Angela has been co-directing a Master’s Musicians Children’s Choir for seven years. Angela has also numerous volunteer and community service hours advocating for children with special needs, mentoring students, and leading Girl Scout troops and various sporting teams. In addition to David, Angela and her husband Bradley have three daughters.

Anna Smith

Anna Smith joined the Children's Cancer Hospital in 2005 as a nurse on the inpatient unit before transferring to the Pediatric Ambulatory Treatment Center where she is the lead nurse. Her interest for pediatric oncology began when Anna was a patient. At the age of 13, Anna was diagnosed with osteosarcoma.  Her insight into what it’s like to be a child with cancer is one few medical professionals have.   She hopes her example as a childhood cancer survivor gives other patients the hope and desire to continue their journey through the difficulty of treatment.  Anna has also traveled to Washington, D.C., on two different occasions to advocate for childhood cancer with Cure Search.  

Anna wanted to be a part of Family Advisory Council to help implement policies and procedures that will ease the day-to-day process for Children’s Cancer Hospital families.  She also wanted to learn more about what she can do for her patients as a nurse to make their time at MD Anderson a little better. She notes that no one knows better than the individual cancer patient about what is the best way to meet his or her needs.

Pat Taylor

Pat Taylor and his wife, Heather, live in La Porte and have two children. They have a daughter, Madison, who is five years old, and they recently welcomed a new baby, Michael, into their family.

Madison was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, in April of 2006. Pat still remembers the day his daughter was diagnosed.

“When Madison was first diagnosed, Dr. Patrick [Zweidler-McKay] sat down and talked with our family. He spent several hours discussing what was happening to Madison and what her treatment would include. He allowed us plenty of time to ask questions,” says Pat. “Providing information and a willingness to answer our questions has characterized our experience with all of the health care professionals at the Children’s Cancer Hospital.”

Like many parents, the Taylors have several ideas they hope to contribute in order to make the experience better for future patients and families.

“I hope I can help develop new initiatives and improve existing practices that will help the Children’s Cancer Hospital continue to offer hope to families dealing with childhood cancer,” says Pat. 

Rhonda Armstrong Trevino

Rhonda Trevino was hired in February of 2008 to serve as the Children’s Cancer Hospital’s first parent coordinator for family-centered care. She and her husband, Mario, live in Katy and have three children. Their oldest daughter, Abigail, is 16 and in the 10th grade, and they have two sons, Micah, 8, and Noah, 6.

Abigail was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on her 12th birthday in September of 2006. She received three rounds of chemo before having limb salvage surgery and then received six more rounds of chemotherapy. Abigail completed treatment in August 2007 and has remained cancer-free.

Rhonda first learned about family-centered care when she joined the family-centered care steering committee in July 2007. Since that time, she has seen a purpose form as the committee has worked to get the initiative going and a Family Advisory Council formed.

"As the Children's Cancer Hospital moves toward family-centered care, it becomes crucial that parents move along the journey with the staff,” says Rhonda. “As the parent of a child who has been treated at the Children’s Cancer Hospital, and who continues to take advantage of the programs and services offered here, I believe that I can be available to help improve the ‘parent experience.’”

Rhonda says she feels her role is to educate other families so they know they have a choice when it comes to their child’s medical care—even when it means asking the tough questions.

“As parents and patients partner with staff and faculty along this journey, we believe we can help make the Children’s Cancer Hospital the best possible pediatric cancer experience.”

Patricia Wells

Patricia Wells is the Director of Family-Centered Care at the Children's Cancer Hospital, overseeing the Family Advisory Council and other family-centered care initiatives. She has been working in pediatric health care for more than 35 years as a nurse, manager, administrator and educator in several large medical centers. She has also worked in the Middle East.

Patty has been affiliated with the Children's Cancer Hospital for two years, re-locating from Cincinnati, Ohio where she directed family-centered care initiatives throughout the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She has a great passion for listening to and working with families and continues to guide the Children's Cancer Hospital as it grows stronger with a family-centered care approach to caring for patients and their families.

Robert Wells, M.D.

Robert Wells, M.D., is the Deputy Chief of the Children’s Cancer Hospital, specializing in lymphoma and leukemia. He joined the Children’s Cancer Hospital in 2003 after serving as a pediatric oncologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio, where family-centered care was part of the hospital’s culture.

He served on the steering committee to spearhead the family-centered care initiative at the Children’s Cancer Hospital before joining the Family Advisory Council.

“I believe the Family Advisory Council is the best hope we have of making true, family-centered change within the Children’s Cancer Hospital,” says Bob, “and I would like to be a part of that change effort.”

Bob feels his years of experience as physician and administrator at other medical centers will help him serve as a leader for the Children’s Cancer Hospital as it evolves into a more family-centered hospital for pediatric patients and families.

Cad Willeford

Cad Willeford has been part of the Children’s Cancer Hospital for nearly 15 years as a Child Life Specialist. As a Child Life Specialist, Cad forms relationships with patients and families and help them cope with their cancer. She can be found visiting patients in the outpatient clinic, accompanying patients to surgical procedures, and helping them understand certain treatments or procedures they may receive.

Cad’s experience at the Children’s Cancer Hospital and her prior experience as a teacher equip her with skills essential to being a member on the Family Advisory Council. She says she feels her strengths are that she’s a good listener and approaches situations with an open mind and heart.

“I want to help Family-Centered Care get off to a great start at the Children’s Cancer Hospital,” says Cad. “I believe family-centered care is one of the best ways to get to the core issues that families are really experiencing. No one knows better than the families as to what their needs are and how we as staff can meet them.”