LeadingAge New York Adviser Winter Vol. 1 | Page 24

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Tell about a success story that speaks to
your mission.

as the care giver. We just celebrated Max’s Bar

We have many success stories both for children
who have gone back home and those who have
stayed here on a long term basis. I’ll tell you
a story about Max. He was our first ventilator
dependent child. Max was born prematurely
and he had a lot of trouble with his breathing
and swallowing and spent a lot of time in the
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) when he
was first born. At eight months, he was sent to
a rehabilitation program. After that he was sent
home. His mother really felt that he needed to
be in a facility because of the level of care he
needed and began an exhaustive search to find
an appropriate setting. She contacted the New
York State Department of Health and she talked
to legislators in search of a program but quickly
found out there really was nothing available.
The DOH contacted us to ask if we would
consider opening some vent beds and in 2006
we opened our first four beds. Max was our first
resident and he is still here with us.

Is there anything I didn’t ask you that I

We subsequently added four more beds and
then 16 more when we moved to our new
building. Max is really the reason we have a
ventilator dependent program. There was an
unmet need and we were able to fill it. Max goes
to school. He had been in a facility that didn’t
have schooling and enough programming for
him. It’s been a really good experience for his
mother because she is able to visit and spend
a lot of time with him. She can be his mom. We
are the caregivers but she is the mom. She is
able to hug him and kiss him every day, as well
as read to him and participate in school with
him and just be there with him as a mom. It
really important. It speaks to our core mission
– let the parent be the parent with us helping

only picture they have of their whole family with

Mitzvah. It was a big celebration.
should have asked?
A pediatric center is such a special place. We try
to provide quality medical care and childhood
experiences so that our children experience
the same thing that children in the community
experience. We celebrate every holiday, some
that we make up. We celebrate life. We try very
hard to help our kids get the most out of life
because they deserve it; they are special. They
really deserve to have as good a life as they
could have had without the challenges they
have faced.
Here are a few examples of life experiences
we offer to our children:
Every August we have a portrait day. We have
a grant that pays for it. We put together a
professional photo package like one would see
at a photo studio. We set up our classrooms like
photo studios. Fo