Hospital for Special Surgery announced the receipt of a $5 million commitment from CA Technologies, an IT management software and solutions company, at its 27th Annual Tribute Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on June 21, 2010.
This contribution marks the completion of the Hospital's Building on Success campaign, which surpassed its $100 million goal raising more than $116 million to support the first expansion of the hospital's clinical facilities in more than a decade and advance research in orthopedics, rheumatology and related disciplines.
The $5 million gift will be used to create the "CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center" at the newly planned Children's Pavilion at Hospital for Special Surgery. The expanded rehabilitation complex, which will occupy more than 7,000 square feet, (more than double the space of the current facility), will include a physical therapy gym for children and adolescents, dedicated therapy rooms for babies and children's fine motor skills, suite of rooms for speech therapy, occupational therapy gym with a dedicated room for sensory integration therapy that facilitates movement in space, such as climbing and swinging, equipment clinic that specializes in wheelchair and mobility needs, special cardiovascular fitness equipment to help children with impaired mobility develop endurance and recreational toys and virtual reality software for physically challenged children to improve balancing skills.
Louis A. Shapiro, president and CEO of Hospital for Special Surgery, said, "We are most appreciative of CA Technologies' generous gift. It will enable our institution to continue to meet the special needs of the more than 17,000 pediatric rehabilitation patient visits each year and provide more opportunities for parents and families to actively participate in a child's therapy."
Hospital for Special Surgery is one of the only hospitals in the country that offers a full range of pediatric orthopedic rehabilitation services. In addition, Special Surgery is a New York State-approved Early Intervention service provider offering specialized care to infants and toddlers from birth to three years with disabilities and developmental delays. Early intervention visits with pediatric rehabilitation therapists have increased by nearly 50 percent since the launch of the program in 2003.
"We are extremely proud to offer our support to the Hospital for Special Surgery to create a pediatric rehabilitation center at the new Children's Pavilion," said Bill Hughes, chief communications officer, CA Technologies. "The Hospital for Special Surgery has a long history of providing unparalleled healthcare to children from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds not only locally, but also to children from around the world. The CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center will not only help children recover faster, but also will help improve the quality of care to children for years to come."
The CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center will care for children who require early intervention, those with developmental delays or disabilities, and children with complex orthopedic conditions including cerebral palsy, scoliosis, congenital anomalies, limb deformity, limb lengthening, osteogenesis imperfecta and orthopedic manifestations from tumors or other types of illness.
"Our comprehensive "family-centered" pediatric team has been involved in the development of the state-of-the-art Children's Pavilion, which will be a 'children's hospital within a hospital,' providing young patients and their families with an outstanding health care experience, said Roger Widmann, M.D., Chief of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery. "There have been major strides made in pediatric orthopedic medicine over the past several decades, and our team has been at the forefront of providing life changing treatments. Now, with this gift from CA Technologies, our dedicated pediatric rehabilitative therapists, who are integral members of the team, will continue to meet the needs of our patients in a facility that complements the high level of pediatric rehabilitation care that they provide."
Leon Root, M.D., medical director of Rehabilitation and former chief of Pediatric Orthopedics at Hospital for Special Surgery, has had a lifelong interest in the development of rehabilitative care for children with a range of disabilities. "CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center provides a significant addition to our world class pediatric program," said Dr. Root. "This much needed additional space will enable us to care for the ever expanding number of children who need our services, and to do so in a warm, caring and receptive environment for patients and their families," said Dr. Root.
The CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center at the Children's Pavilion at Hospital for Special Surgery is expected to be completed next year.
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