Serving children: Local health officials, CBR YouthConnect share resources

La Junta, Colo. -
Otero County Health Department recently teamed up with CBR YouthConnect to provide rehabilitation clinics for children with special needs.
Kevin Harsh, director of nursing with the Otero County Health Department, said the health department provides rehab clinics for children from a nine-county area.
A team of doctors and special needs specialists are available at the clinic to visit with children and families on anything from physical therapy and medical examinations to wheelchair improvements and brace inspections.
Because of the high number of clients and cramped clinic conditions at their previous location, the department began searching for a new facility.
Martin Maser, CEO of CBR YouthConnect, offered one of the vacant buildings on the campus located north of La Junta.
“This is an interagency collaboration to improve health care access to children with special needs,” Harsh said.
Maser agreed.
“CBR YouthConnect and the Otero County Health Department are in the business of serving children,” Maser said. “This was a perfect fit. We are reaching back to the communities that have supported us. We wanted to extend our services and community resources to the Arkansas Valley and the community we serve here.”
Kirk Snyder, chief operating officer at CBR, has been the lead executive for the collaboration and spearheaded what needed to happen on the campus to help provide services to children with special needs.
Harsh said with families struggling in today’s economy, this clinic offers an affordable alternative to people in rural areas.
“The recession is particularly hard on everyone,” Harsh said. “It would cost a lot of money to visit this type of team. People would have to travel to Denver. We are very fortunate to have them here.”
Also contributing to the clinic is the Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

http://www.lajuntatribunedemocrat.com/archive/x360587469/Serving-children-Local-health-officials-CBR-YouthConnect-share-resources

This entry was posted on 1. May 2009 at 17:31 and is filed under Family, Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.