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Services Provided

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Serving our Children

St. Mary’s cares for children from throughout Virginia with severe disabilities who come to us as a result of birth disorders, traumatic accidents, illness or child abuse. Each child is within the severe to profound range of mental retardation. Most of our children use wheelchairs for mobility and may rely on methods other than speech to communicate their wants and needs. Many use feeding tubes to provide some or all of their nourishment. A few have tracheotomies, and almost all require regularly administered medication. Our staff provides clinical, educational, recreational and support services with a gentle touch to create a therapeutic environment for the children.

The following is a brief description of these services.

Clinical Care

Daily care is delivered by registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, and physical and occupational therapists who work under the medical direction of a board-certified pediatrician. Each child receives routine examinations from a pediatrician to evaluate his or her medical needs.

Physical Therapy Assistant Barbara Graeff-Taylor and Dr. Christine Thorogood work with Dwayne in the physical therapy room of St. Mary’s.

 

Children also receive in-house consultations with medical specialists such as neurologists, orthopedists, physiatrists, gastroenterologists, a pharmacist and dentist. Most of the doctors treating St. Mary’s children are on staff at Children’s Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD) in Norfolk.

Nursing is a vital component of the children’s clinical care with over 100 positions in three 8-hour shifts for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nurse assistants. Each of the four living units houses 22 children and is equipped with a nurses’ station.

 

Our nurses provide around-the-clock care, working in partnership with physicians. Nurses stay in close touch with physicians about each child, and physicians are frequently meeting with families or providing phone consultations to discuss a child’s condition. Two full-time social workers, a registered dietitian and two Qualified Mental Retardation Professionals (QMRPs) complete the professional staff.

Education

All of the children at St. Mary’s attend school—some in the community and others at the Home. Each child benefits from a comprehensive special education curriculum aligned with Virginia Standards of Learning that includes physical, occupational and speech therapy; art, music and adaptive physical education; adaptive computers and audio-visual aids; and specially-designed field trips.

St. Mary’s partners with the Southeastern Cooperative Educational Program (SECEP) to provide specialized education to residents. SECEP functions as a regional public school serving the Hampton Roads cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Southampton, Suffolk and Virginia Beach and touches the lives of over 1500 students in special education and alternative education.

SECEP developed the REACH Program – Raising Expectations and Abilities for Children with Complex Health Needs – in July 2004 in conjunction with consultants from Virginia Commonwealth University who specialized in Severe Disabilities. The REACH program provides high quality education to over 100 children (ages two – 21) with severe to profound disabilities who reside at St. Mary’s and at Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital.

The school principal has an office at the Home, and licensed special education teachers and teacher’s assistants instruct the children. An assistive technology specialist ensures that classroom environments can be activated independently by the children, and a school social worker serves as a liaison with the community and parents or guardians. Also, two education specialists mentor teachers and provide modeling programs based on best practices for students with severe disabilities.

Students in the REACH program work on Individual Education Plans (IEPs) focusing on communication and functional skills, as well as pre-academics. You may see the children at St. Mary’s working in small groups on identifying the weather, days of the week or recognizing their names in print. The teaching staff coach students with skills to help them function independently such as how to brush their teeth or feed themselves. They also coach the children with communication skills using low- and high-tech devices.

Recreational Therapy

St. Mary’s children have the same social and emotional needs as children everywhere, and the activities and therapeutic recreation departments provide daily opportunities for children to enjoy recreation and leisure pursuits. A newly structured recreation program—made possible by grants received from both Sentara Health Foundation and the Tidewater Children’s Foundation—has helped the Home develop a comprehensive therapeutic recreational therapy program to include projects such as an art therapy program, a pet therapy program and a new Girl Scout troop with six proud St. Mary’s members.

Beginning January 28, St. Mary’s began an art therapy program for residents to express their emotions through art. Three EVMS students come to the Home the fourth Saturday of every month to help facilitate this innovative program.

Vicky’s creation of paint on canvas.