Jessica Navarro and Matthew Duffey packed their belonging last year and moved 180 miles to the Houston area — all so their daughter with cerebral palsy could be treated at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Their 1-year-old daughter, Kaelyn, was diagnosed with the movement disorder after suffering a stroke at birth. She needed regular outpatient therapy appointments to regain some of her brain function, so Navarro and Duffey decided to leave their home in Athens, Texas, to seek specialized care at the Houston hospital system. Kaelyn had almost started walking when, last week, her parents were informed that all of her therapists had been laid off.
“All these therapists said to waken the damaged part of her brain, she needs to be in therapy, therapy, therapy,” Duffey told the Chronicle. “Now here we are with not a single lick of therapy, in the dark. And it su-ks.”
Over the last week, Navarro and Duffey joined the ranks of anxious families left in the dark about whether their children with complex medical needs will need to wait weeks or months to restart important therapy sessions at Texas Children’s Hospital. An unspecified number of speech, physical and occupational therapists across the system were let go last week, resulting in abrupt appointment cancellations and a scramble for information among parents who worry their children will regress.
Studies have found that gaps in therapy could stall the progress a child has made, cause them to fall behind in developmental milestones or even experience a regression in motor and communication skills.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/texas-children-s-layoffs-led-to-abrupt-therapy-cancellations-families-are-still-in-the-dark/ar-AA1oIAHL