ART from the HeART celebrates 125 years of The Children's Home of Pittsburgh

When Dr. Barbara Zawadzki’s daughter, Sarah Itzkoff, 29, was born prematurely, the two stayed in a neonatal intensive care unit for four months before transferring to the Pediatric Specialty Hospital at The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh .

“You question your ability to take care of a medically-fragile child at first. … Coming to The Children’s Home made us feel we could, it gave us the confidence,” Zawadzki says in a news release.

Zawadzki, a long-time Children’s Home board member, will be recognized on Sept. 21 as The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh & Lemieux Family Center and BPU Investment Management Inc. present “ART from the HeART: Celebrating 125 Years of The Children’s Home,” at its 5324 Penn Ave. site.

According to the release, Zawadzki’s unique perspective as both physician and mother to a medically-fragile child had made her an advocate and guide for the organization as it grew.

While complications from prematurity mean Itzkoff is legally blind, she has attained a degree in literature and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University, the release notes. Now a University of Pittsburgh law student, she hopes to follow her mother’s lead and become an advocate for those with special needs, the release adds.

Tickets are $25.

Event proceeds will benefit The Children’s Home’s three programs, adoption, Child’s Way and the Pediatric Specialty Hospital.

Details: 412-441-4884 or childrenshomepgh.org

Mary Pickels is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary at 724-836-5401, mpickels@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaryPickels.