VOLUME 9: ISSUE 3
The mission and purpose of The Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc. came to life February 23, 2010 as three mothers shared with a group of our supporters the impact this charitable organization has made in their children’s lives.
Our goal is to empower families and communities to care for medically fragile children at home, improve their quality of life, and benefit tax payers and healthcare institutions by providing a more efficient and effective way to care for these children.
The following stories demonstrate the depth and multi-faceted ways Dream House accomplishes its mission so children, like Angel, a young girl currently benefiting from specialized services at the Family for Keeps® Transition Care Home (TCH) in Lilburn, may live in stable home environments with families trained to meet their individual care needs.
The Healing Power of Transition Care
Throughout December and January, we have reported that Jimbo Secunda recovered from surgery at the Dream House TCH. “The Dream House (TCH) is the most loving, comfortable, safe environment for a child’s recovery,” commented Jimbo’s mother, Honey. “I never once worried about my son’s care when I was not able to be with him. The staff of the Dream House was truly a gift from God. We should all have the care they gave my child.”
Finding Dream House was not so easy, though. Honey explained how she called in every favor, contacted anyone and everyone to find temporary, handicap accessible, post-surgery accommodations for her son. After nearly 300 calls, at her wits end, she reached out to a childhood friend’s mother, Alana Shepherd (The Shepherd Center) whom she had not seen or spoken with in 35 years. Mrs. Shepherd gave her four contacts and one of those calls yielded the lead that has changed her son’s life forever.
Honey was directed to contact Dream House. Plans for Jimbo’s surgery and post-surgery transition care were then set, until Honey learned that because of stalled service-provider contract negotiations between Dream House and Georgia’s Medicaid Administration, Jimbo’s Medicaid would not pay for his nursing care if admitted to the TCH. Devastated, Honey contacted Dream House to deliver the news that she simply could not pay and would cancel Jimbo’s surgery.
Because of generous Dream House supporters whose donations cover direct care expenses for children admitted to the TCH, regardless of their ability to pay, Transition Care Manager Chris Morgan, RN told Honey that Dream House would welcome Jimbo, because he needed his planned surgery on December 7, 2009 to correct his club foot condition.
Anticipating a 12-week recovery, everyone involved was thrilled when Jimbo demonstrated his ability to climb up and down stairs in his walking casts, much sooner than expected. After 49 days, not the anticipated 90 days, Jimbo went home, returned to school, and is now walking better than at any time in his life – even though still wearing his casts!
The Empowerment of Education and Community Support
Four years ago, Olive Hamilton sat through a presentation given by Dream House Founder and CEO Laura Moore at a foster parent conference held on Jekyll Island. Having fostered nearly 300 children over the years, she felt called to help those most helpless, but was unsure if she had the necessary skills.
Empowered by what she heard from Laura, Olive registered for a Dream House Family for Keeps® Basic Care training course. Gaining confidence from the skills she learned, Olive determined that, in fact, she could care for a medically fragile child in her home.
She has since participated in many Family for Keeps® Advanced Skills Workshops to learn more specialized care for the three children she now fosters: two girls aged 17 and 15, and a 12-year-old boy. Each has severe medical issues, is wheelchair bound and non-verbal.
The past two years, via the Family for Keeps® Bridging the Gap Program, Dream House has connected Olive to others in the community. A local church group built a privacy fence and another volunteer group rebuilt her deck, adding a handicap ramp, to safely accommodate the children. Both projects now make it possible for them to have quality outside time.
A third group from another local church has, for the past year, maintained Olive’s lawn so this burden of home ownership would be removed from her shoulders. Each month, Dream House supplies $400 worth of diapers for Olive’s foster children, from community donations. Recently, Dream House was able to install a handicap swing outside. Olive shared with us that even though her children cannot tell her, the look in their eyes and the “light from within” shines through each time the kids take flight in the swing.
Her message included her prayer “that God would provide whatever means necessary for Dream House to continue improving quality of life for children in need.”
The Resources that Enable Medically Complex Children to Live at Home
Baby Austyn King is nearly one year into his nightmare. A bright, beautiful 11-month-old baby, he is trapped in a body fully paralyzed by a progressive, genetic muscular disorder. With a maximum life-expectancy of two years, his mother Yanique says, “No!” Quoting the analogy that it takes a village to raise a child, Yanique’s position is, "It takes a nation."
As we have reported, this mother of three has worked tirelessly, basically leaving no stone unturned since Austyn was diagnosed at 7-weeks-old. She works to locate equipment and medical supplies to ensure her precious baby has the greatest quality of life possible. Using the Internet to research her son’s disease, she has consulted with medical experts and other parents across the U.S. facing the same issues. Austyn requires intensive respiratory therapy multiple times a day. In her quest to find necessary equipment for Austyn, Yanique discovered Dream House. “I still am fuzzy on just how I found Dream House, but I am so glad I did.”
Nearly six months earlier, ‘it just so happens’ that a Dream House supporter won a generator in a contest. When participating at a community fund raising event for Dream House last spring, he heard Laura Moore share several stories about generators like these saving children’s lives when their homes temporarily lose power. He told Laura that should Dream House have a request for a generator, he would gladly donate his.
Yanique reached out to Dream House in the fall of 2009 seeking a connection to help her find a reasonably-priced or donated generator that could be permanently installed (these are prone to theft) at her home. Bridging the Gap Manager Nancy McKenzie and Volunteer Manager Rene Patterson set the wheels in motion to install this donated generator at the King’s home. One week after installation, the Kings lost power to the house in the middle of Austyn’s respiratory treatment. The back-up generator kicked in.
“My child may not be alive today if it were not for that generator. I have no idea how the situation would have played out otherwise.” Yanique later learned that an automobile accident caused the power outage and kept her grid offline so long.
“Dream House is a resource that my family and child have benefited from and it must be available for others,” she earnestly told Dream House supporters.
- Angel and Child Life Specialist Hannah Nabors
You Keep this Dream Alive for
Children and Families
Children with complex health issues deserve quality of life, a family who loves them, a home to call their own and hope for the future. Our supporters have rallied for nine years to propel this mission from a pilot program to a program licensed as the first and only Children's Transition Care Center in the U.S.; a care delivery model that now has demonstrated 100 percent successful outcomes.
People need to know Dream House programs and services are available for children in need. The only way that will happen during the current economic storm, and in the future, is through:
- Consistent financial support LEARN WAYS TO GIVE
- Community-based goods and services donations WISH LIST
- As well as volunteers willing to learn to help where needed VOLUNTEER TODAY
Share what you know about Dream House with someone else by forwarding this email. We welcome your call to 770-717-7410, emails and referrals for families in your community caring for medically fragile children.
Please make your secure, tax-deductible donation today to help children like Angel.
