Aladdin charity donates to Child Care Center

                                                       8-29-94

ALADDIN CRIPPLED CHILDRENS HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION DONATES
$5,000 FOR EQUIPMENT FOR MEDICALLY FRAGILE CHILDREN

     COLUMBUS -- Medically fragile children at The Ohio State
University will benefit from $5,000 donated Friday (8/26) by the
Aladdin Crippled Childrens Hospital Association, Inc.

     The donation will be used to purchase equipment for the
planned addition to Ohio State's Child Care Center.  The
addition, for which construction will begin this fall, will make
Ohio State's facility one of the first in the nation to integrate
medically fragile children into a child care center for typically
developing children.

     Presenting the $5,000 check on behalf of ACCHA were Owen E.
Johnson, M.D., president of ACCHA, and Russell F. Miller,
secretary of ACCHA.  Accepting the donation were Linda Tom, vice
president for human resources at Ohio State, and Rebecca A.
Wilkins, director of Ohio State's Child Care Center.

     Paul E. Kaplan, the Bert C. Wiley, M.D., Endowed Professor
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine, and Jeanne C.
Huba, program director in Ohio State's Department of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation, were instrumental in seeking the
support of ACCHA.  Kaplan also is a trustee of the ACCHA.

     "We really appreciate your generosity," Vice President Tom
told the ACCHA representatives.  "The addition to the Child Care
Center is an exciting project for us."

     The 4,500-square-foot addition to the Child Care Center, 725
Ackerman Road, will allow 15 medically fragile children and 18
mentally retarded/developmentally delayed children to be enrolled
at the center.  The addition also will increase the center's
capacity of typically developing children from the present 300 to
316.

     Support for construction of the addition has come from the
Ohio Department of Health under Gov. George V. Voinovich's Family
and Children First Initiative.

     Medically fragile children rely on prolonged use of medical
devices to compensate for the loss of vital bodily functions and
require substantial daily skilled nursing care to avert death or
further disability.  They may be dependent, for example, on tube
feeding by pump for all their nutrition or they may be able to
breathe only with the assistance of a mechanical device.

     This new service for medically fragile children is expected
to be a cost-effective solution to a growing national problem.

     Tom, vice president of human resources, pointed out that in
analyzing the heath care needs of these children, the university
expects to realize significant cost savings by providing this
alternative form of care, rather than the one-on-one home health
care covered by the university's health insurance plan.

     The Aladdin Crippled Childrens Hospital Association was
founded as a charitable organization in 1925 by the Aladdin
Temple Shrine in Columbus.  ACCHA supports health care for
crippled children and indigent children in the district served by
Aladdin Temple Shrine, as well as charitable programs sponsored
nationally by Shriners.

                                #

Contact: Judy Fountain, director of work and family programs, at
292-0393; Rebecca Wilkins, director of the Child Care Center, at
292-4453; or Jeanne Huba, program coordinator in the Department
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, at 293-3802.


[Submitted by: STERRETT  (sterrett@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Mon, 29 Aug 1994 10:52:45 -0500 (EST)]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.