4 minute read Growing up in poverty in the slums of Kumasi, Ghana, 18-year-old Abina longed for a better life. Her pastor talked to her about job opportunities in other countries, and with his help, Abina signed up with an organization that promised great pay and benefits. Staff helped her get a passport and a […]
Parents Hoping to Outlive Their Children
3 minute read I recently received an emotionally laden call from a close friend of mine, Jessica, that sucked the air right out of me. Jessica is the mother of “Chrissy,” a 30-year-old woman with profound intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who lives at home. My agency has provided Chrissy with supports in Jessica’s home […]
Glass children: The overlooked siblings of the people we treat.
5 minute read We work with children, adolescents, and adults with chronic conditions: mental illness, medical conditions, intellectual or developmental disabilities. We do the very best we can to treat the patient, but what about their siblings? What about them? The first memory Nathan has is being in the hospital. He says, “I pretty well […]
Caring for Decades: A Story of Parents, Children, and Special Needs
5 minute read In 1974 Sue delivered two beautiful identical twin daughters. They were the “talk of the hospital,” she says. They were still talking days later, but for different reasons, when the girls had their first seizure in the nursery. At three months, Kaylie and Kylie were diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. The […]