Passing It On

An organization like ours can celebrate 85 years of service because our successes are wide-ranging, meaningful, and diverse. We have so many success stories that span across the entire Ohio Valley — from Hancock to Jackson counties in West Virginia and Jefferson to Monroe counties in Ohio.

If you mention our name in casual conversation, you’ll likely be connected to someone who has benefited from the services of this organization — whether it’s through our early intervention services, therapy in many of our local school systems, or right here in our clinic.

Over the years, several of our own employees have been success stories of this organization, including me. Almost 40 years ago exactly, my parents had concerns that I wasn’t meeting my physical milestones, and so they enrolled me in the Easterseals infant early intervention physical therapy program. My parents knew the mission and legacy of this organization, so they asked for Easterseals. Their advocacy and support of our mission is what drove me to volunteer here as a teenager. My positive experiences here are why I chose to become an Occupational therapist, and why I wanted to go to work for this organization right out of college.

Now, it is my job to pay back the organization that helped me. I want to continue to make sure people know what asking for Easterseals can do to help them or their loved ones.

You know, a child’s primary occupation is to PLAY. With the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the increase in technology addiction, children have not been afforded appropriate opportunities to PLAY in order to learn and build many basic skills. Because of this, we as medical professionals and therapists have seen a huge rise in physical, communication, social, adaptive, and behavioral developmental delays.

The services we provide are life-changing and they are needed now more than ever. All it takes is awareness and a doctor’s referral. Let’s keep spreading the word ...