August 14, 2025 • 27 mins
The Children's Home & Lemieux Family Center, where holistic care meets family empowerment.
Our goal is to make sure every person who walks through our doors feels empowered whether it be to take care of their medically fragile child, or to make a life changing decision. We’re here to support the community; our family.
What We Do: We believe that families come in all shapes and sizes, and that any setbacks can usually be addressed by listening and teaching in a way that is conducive to the family unit.Togetherness and strong communication is incorporated in everything we do from the environment in which we teach families in our Pediatric Specialty Hospital, the care we provide to children in Child’s Way daycare expecting, and the supportive, nurturing accommodations we make for a birthparent considering adoption. We speak to and care for our patients and clients as if they were our own family.
Our goal is to make sure every person who walks through our doors feels empowered whether it be to take care of their medically fragile child, or to make a life changing decision. We’re here to support the community; our family.
What We Do: We believe that families come in all shapes and sizes, and that any setbacks can usually be addressed by listening and teaching in a way that is conducive to the family unit.Togetherness and strong communication is incorporated in everything we do from the environment in which we teach families in our Pediatric Specialty Hospital, the care we provide to children in Child’s Way daycare expecting, and the supportive, nurturing accommodations we make for a birthparent considering adoption. We speak to and care for our patients and clients as if they were our own family.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
And welcome in. This is the CEO's use No podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's saylo to old friend
Stacey Sechler, CEO of the Children's Home. Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good to see you, Hi, Johnny, So tell us.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Everything we need to know about the organization.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
So, the Children's Home of Pittsburgh has been around since
eighteen ninety three and we have been a critical lifeline
for children and families navigating social, emotional and medical situations.
Right now, we are booming with six programs. No family
leaves our hospital with a medical bill. That is really
important because it takes a community to be able to
(00:43):
provide that level of support across all of our programs.
So we really are inviting everybody in. We want you
to get to see what happens behind our brick walls.
We are an incredible community resource, filling gaps and services
and we want the community to.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Know about us.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And open house coming up very soon next month. What
do you have going on?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yes, on Friday, September twelfth, we are holding an open
house for the community and friends and family to come
in and see what happens behind our brick walls on
Penn Avenue.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And I love it. It really changed my opinion. Well,
I've always had a high opinion about the Children's Children's Home,
but going in and having a tour it, it kind
of opened my eyes to exactly what you guys do.
I knew his adoption, I knew was a pediatric hospital,
and I knew different things. But once you go in
(01:36):
and you see the people doing the things that they do,
it really kind of opened my eyes. Do you get
do A lot of people say the same thing, yes, they.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Do, because really, you know, we're just a brick building
that you're driving, you know, past every day, and our
name doesn't really tell you what we do. And now
that we've built six new or three new programs, you know,
it is really hard for people to understand the critical
(02:05):
role that we play for our community and the level
of service and gaps and services that we fill. So
this is an effort to really welcome the community onto
you know, our our lovely playground that is open to
the community every day. It is an all inclusive playground.
We have a wheelchair tunnel, we have adaptive swings, and
(02:29):
then you can stay and have some food and play
some games in the backyard and we are staff is
providing tours throughout the buildings, so you'll get a glimpse
into our medical daycare, our pediatric specialty hospital. You'll get
to see where our team works hard with families who are,
you know, going through mental health crisis. We also have
(02:51):
a special little wall of our pediatric view patients that
you can really get to see what kind of world
they see through. And you know, it's it's just a
really special day that I think is going to allow
people who have wondered to kind of come and see behind.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Now I'm going to ask you about some of the
programs specifically, but I want to ask you well. First
of all, I had a chance to interview your predecessor,
Pam Keene. Then I got to interview both you and
Pam together as Pam introduced you as the new CEO.
Now it's it's almost been a year. So what is
(03:35):
that year been like as the new CEO of the
Children's Home?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Wow? Well, it's been a whirlwind.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And I can't say enough about my incredible team. I
have a wonderful team of all thought leaders and everybody
is driven by the same mission to really meet families
where they're at and identify what needs they have. And
you know, through that we've been able to really see
(04:03):
that there are unmet needs and there are you know,
critical needs for access such as you know, to more
mental health support.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You know, in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
We did a a community health Needs Assessment where we
surveyed community, our whole entire community to really understand what
the barriers were of services, you know, and what we
saw was we needed more access to mental health support.
I don't think that's a secret to anybody. There was
(04:34):
a need for increased childcare access. There was a need
for increased access for pediatric outpatient therapy that's PTOT speech
language development, and you know, we are really fit to
move into those spaces. You know, our counseling department grew
(04:56):
naturally from our foster care program. You know, we worked
so closely with youth, and we worked so closely with
families who were going through the adoptive process or going
through infertility and needed counseling or birth mothers, you know,
working with birth mothers and understanding whether or not this
was the right decision for them. So that naturally grew
(05:16):
into now we can provide this service more broadly and
not just you know, in those spaces within the counts,
within the foster care and adoption program, but now expanded further.
And that's just our counseling program. You know, the need
for the outpatient PTOT and speech. We already were providing
(05:40):
those services in house. So now we have you know,
started seeing more outpatient.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Services. We are growing that space.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
So if you are in need of or know of
any child who birth to twenty one that needs PTOT
or speech, we are seeing those patients now. And then
we are continuing to expand our Pediatric View program, which
is addressing cortical visual impairment and children, which happens to
(06:15):
be the leading cause of visual impairment and children and
the only visual impairment that can actually improve with the intervention.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'm sure you heard the childhood story the Little Engine
that Could. You're like the little hospital that can and will.
I mean you find gaps that other hospitals that you know,
the Children's Hospital for example, and you work closely with them. Yes,
there's certain things that they just can't provide and they
need a resource and you're that resource for a lot
(06:45):
of the things that they can't provide. You know, for example,
a premi a baby that's born premature. There's only a
limited time. But now once that that child is you know,
old enough to leave the hospital, but now that that
(07:05):
mother has to learn how to take care of that premie.
And that's something that you guys have taken over and saying, hey,
we're able to you know, extend that care for just
a little bit so that mother can knows how to
take care of that maybe not premature, or maybe it's
a child with a certain disability. Those are the things
(07:26):
that you're able to provide. So you really are the
little hospital that doesn't say no to anything.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
We really do try to fill those gaps.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And we are very proud of our partnership with Children's
Hospital and with the other nick U's and pickeews in
our area because you know, without us, it is hard
for families to get comfortable with understanding what the care
needs are going to be for their child. You know
that can you know, be a premie grower feeder who
(07:57):
needs to know how to feed. That could be a
child with a gtube and a family needing to understand
how to change a G tube, But it could also
be a child with a trait and a non eventilator.
There's so many different things, and honestly, our nurses are
the jack of all trades. They are the lifeline. They
(08:18):
are at the bedside every day. Their ratio is very low,
it's a one to three nurse patient ratio, but that
is because they are doing all the teaching with the families.
So in their assignment, they could have a premie, they
could have a G tube you toddler, and they could
have a thirteen year old tradd invented patient. So they
(08:40):
really do have multiple skills to be able to also
meet those families on wherever they're at in their journey,
to be able to help teach them and build that
confidence to then be able to go home. They're learning
on all the home equipment too, which is critically important
because you can discharge from any tertiary care hospital and
(09:02):
you're on and then you go home and you're on
home equipment. It's different, It sounds different, looks different, you
don't know what to do, so next thing you know,
you end up back in the ED and the cycle continues.
So that is why we were identified as you know,
creating this transition to home program.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And it doesn't stop there. It doesn't because maybe that
that parent has to go back to work and they
need childcare for that child with those special needs. Yes,
and you help them do that.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
And that is exactly how Child's Way it came about
because families do need to continue to work. No one
asked for the situations that.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
They are in.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And you know, when you have a family with or
when you have a child with medical complexities, they can't
go to a normal daycare. So it is you know,
Child's Way provides that support. It provides the daycare, it
provides the nursing, it provides all of the therapies needed
for that child, early intervention services, all of those needs
(10:02):
are getting met right at Child's Way. We are licensed
by the Department of Health and the Department of Human
Services and we are a keystone star for facility, which
is really amazing. And our teachers have such skill in
working with each of the different children in their developmental
needs and where they're at. And then also we have
(10:24):
our teachers and our therapists are all trained and specialized
in CBI now too, so we're really capturing a really
good group of education.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And you brought up CVII. Explain what that is and
the unique opportunity that Pittsburghers have here at the Children's Home.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yes, so Pediatric View is our program that addresses cortical
visual impairments.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
That's CBI, that is CVI.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You probably haven't heard of it because not many people
are aware of it. Doctor Christine Roman Lancey started Pediatric
View in nineteen ninety nine at West Penn Hospital in
the Nick You follow up clinic. She really paid attention
to how these children were oddly showing interest in light
(11:21):
and visual development was a little bit different, and so
she's dedicated her entire life to studying this and through
that she has designed a CBI Range Assessment, which she
is a tool that can determine what level of CVII
(11:44):
that child has. It provides a score, it provides a phase,
and provides a whole plan for how that child sees
how to modify the environment. And that's just from the
assessment tool. But really it CVI is the leading cause
of visual impairment and children, and nobody knows about it.
(12:06):
And if it is a visual impairment that can improve,
it is our responsibility to be able to do something
about that.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Well, it's not like every hospital, every community, or every
state has something addressing CBI. This is something that the
Children's Home does. This is a unique opportunity here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yes, so we doctor Christine roman Lancy works at the
Children's Home. We have an entire team who is trained
to screen, assess, provide advocacy, legal support, school support, all
of that for families. We are working with local schools,
(12:50):
We're working with the different therapy groups and organizations to
really try and get the education of CBI in their
hands so.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
They how many hospitals across the country have something addressing CBI,
Not many, not many.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Mostly the ones where doctor Christine roman Lancy has, yeah,
had an imprint.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Have a unique You have a unique opportunity. This is
something unique to Pittsburgh. I mean Pittsburgh in itself. We
always kind of you know, we take pride in our
you know, the medical facilities that we have because we
do have a lot of advanced medical facilities here in Pittsburgh.
And this makes your the Children's Home very unique.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
It is because what you don't realize it is, uh,
you know, it is the leading cause of visual impairment
and children. But what what it is described as is
imagine looking through a kaleidoscope, and you need to be
able to identify an apple. How can you identify an
(13:54):
apple and a kaleidoscope if you have no means of
understanding what that looks like. So imagine what that would
look like. In the case where you're learning to feed
and you have a spoon coming towards your mouth, you
have no means to know that that's a spoon. How
do you know that's a spoon in your in your
(14:15):
kaleidoscopic image? And so what are what are you going
to demonstrate? What characteristics are you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Going to demonstrate?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You're going to revert, You're gonna, you know, be away
from the spoon, You're gonna yell, You're gonna, you know be,
You're going to act out, and that those actions and
characteristics often get misdiagnosed, and they often get misdiagnosed as autism,
as attention deficit disorder, and a number of other behavioral issues.
(14:44):
And really it's CBI because a child is so frustrated
because they can't access their visual environment that they demonstrate
similar characteristics to other diagnoses. I will tell you the
number of children that she sees that comes in with
an autism or ADHD diagnosis, it's always cv I and
(15:09):
then what the families are told their child can't do
through a modified environment, addressing that child's favorite color, dimming
the lights, making it taking away all of the other
light in the room, and distraction, being quiet, and then
really teaching and using your words to explain what the
(15:30):
what the visual you know clues are about what the
item is, and then you watch and the child can
actually do the activity and there's no there's no there's
no you know, argument against that when so right now
you have all of these kids getting misdiagnosed with autism
(15:53):
when it could be CVI with a simple screen that
takes five minutes, and you can set these kids off
on a path where they can actually learn to visually
access their environment. And if you can learn visually, then
you can actually learn.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
In life.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And so it's it's very it's it's disheartening because we
can do something about it. And it's a simple screen
that you can do at infancy, at birth, and it's
based on did all you know, uh, did this happen
in birth? Or these diagnoses or you know, did all
of these medical complexities happen. There's a whole slew of
(16:34):
medical information and data that demonstrate this child should be
screened for CBI. And that's where we're at right now,
and that's why we're speaking so passionately about it, because
we finally have a reliable and valid tool that has
been clinically proven to assess, and now we need people
to understand what CBI is so we can get these
(16:54):
kids early in infancy, early on, and that it's not
something where they're sixteen seventeen. We're catching it and we're
trying to build, for a waste of time.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
The Child's Way, And I'm sorry, the Pediatric View program
is just one of the programs, one of six seven.
You could have a number of programs. And we've had
this conversation before, is that it's really hard to describe
what the Children's Home does because you do so much.
But the uniqueness of your organization is that every single
(17:31):
person that I've had contact with is singlely focused on
what they want to do and what they want to accomplish.
And I think that's how you've succeeded in becoming indispensable
to this community, is that the people that you have
for Child's Way, the branch where you're taking care of
(17:57):
you're actually taking in kids from the from daycare to
you know, after school programs and things like that. And
the people that you have working there, it's their mission.
They are devoted to that mission. And it seems like
every single person that I've talked to is devoted to
whatever their particular mission. Now, one of your you know,
(18:21):
slogans is that one family at a time, and every
family is unique, and you've adapted to every single family
in every single situation. Is it is a a it's
a huge effort, and it takes a lot of understanding.
What breaks my heart is people don't understand what the
(18:43):
Children's Home does and what they bring to the community.
And if they did, they would embrace your organization as
they do and as they should Children's Hospital. They a
lot of people assume that you're part of that organization
and you're not. You know, they have some big corporate dollars.
You don't have that advantage. You fell in a desperate need,
(19:06):
but you don't have that financial help that UPMC provides
Children's Hospital.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yes, that's not a.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Question, that's that's actually a fact. But you know, so,
I think it starts with an open house and inviting
people in and once people go into your organization and
see exactly what you do, it really changes. It changed
my mind. I was sympathetic to what you did. You
(19:41):
do on a daily basis, but once you go in,
you go, oh, they do this. And you see a
child in the daycare center, you go, oh, yeah, that
mom has to work. They can't just take that child
to any daycare around the corner and have them, you know,
(20:01):
if they have special needs, you know, and we're talking
like trakes and and things like that, and that's what
you guys provide. And that's just that's just one small bit.
And we haven't even talked about your signature program that
you've you've which is adoption, and we haven't even talked
about that. And that's kind of like how your organization started.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Because it's just molded so much over time and transformed
because not that adoption isn't still a core piece of
what we do. But you know, even through that program,
it grew into you know, foster care and participating in
the state wide adoption network. And you know, there's over
three thousand children who need foster homes. So please call
(20:47):
us or look up our website if you're interested you know,
because that that really is is how we're growing now
into counseling, so every bit of it is is interconnected
and integrated and family center focused. You know, we look
at our families who go through our hospital and we're
(21:07):
teaching them how to care for their child, how to
care for their child who's taking care of the parent.
So naturally, now our counseling services can address you know,
families who are going through a change in what they
thought their child's future was going to look like, or
who you know, the overwhelm that happens when you know
(21:27):
your day is going to look totally different now because
you have to think about how your child's going to
get to all of their appointments, or how you're going
to get the medical equipment that you.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Need in order to go to where you need to go.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
There's so many things that we do that help identify
all of those little nuances for families going through these
challenges and really trying to remove those barriers. Our team
can help provide those resources and really work with families
wherever they're at in their journey, and it is across
all programs. You know, our social work team is led
(22:02):
by you know, our director of our counseling and family
support services programs, so she oversees all of it and
can see how it all ties together. And that really
is how our entire team leads. Where we're you know,
nobody siloed in their own little worlds. Every program over crosses.
(22:23):
Even in Child's Way. We didn't know three years ago
about CBI. We screened all of our children in Child's
Way and thirteen of our children have CBI. So now
we've worked with our local partners. Thank you to Dual
Lingo for you know, supporting a capacity grant for us,
and we've built out a cortical visual impairment program down
in Child's Ways to make sure that we're addressing all
(22:45):
of their educational needs. So it's as do you learn,
it's what you do with it. And I'm really proud
of our team because what we learn and how we
mold and move forward and we have a can do attitude.
It isn't based on money, even though we really need
the support, we figure out.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
How to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
And you know, we have wonderful partners in our community,
wonderful donors who have come through and who really engaged
and understand, you know what we're faced with, especially being
you know, eighty percent relied on Medicaid right now, and
we all know what that means. You know, our team
is really forging forward, and I really am proud of
our community and the you know, local and state representatives
(23:30):
that have come out to see what critical support that
we provide, because without us, it's not a it's not
a good picture for these teams.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I promise myself that I would keep this short, but
every time I start talking about the Children's Home, there's
so much to talk about and we barely scratch the surface.
But I'm really curious about a couple of things. You've
been CEO for about a year now, but you've been
with the Children's Home for quite some time. Was there
is there anything part of being CEO that you weren't expecting?
(24:05):
Was any surprises?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I think the biggest surprise is the transition from you know,
being someone who has worked with an incredible CEO for
so long to being the person who is solely responsible
to make sure that all of this continues to happen,
because without this in our community, these families really don't
(24:31):
have a lot of support.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
And our staff really believe in this mission and it's
important that we have our community to you know, understand
and support us if it gets a little bit tough, heer,
and that's why we just want more people to understand
what we do.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
You know, a lot of times I think people when
you talk about healthcare, we kind of are very dismissed.
Is like hospitals don't understand what the patients are going through. Well,
with your organization, I never I never feel like they
don't understand what the what the child is going through,
(25:15):
what the parent is going through, what the what the
grandparents are going through. Your empathy for the family situation
is almost paramount. And each person who works at the
children's home is reacting to that imperative. And that's that's
(25:36):
got to be a weighty situation. Because we kind of
talked about every situation is different, so every time that
it's not like, you know, some hospitals may deal with
hernia repair, you know, and that's what they do, and
so that's what they do on a daily basis. You
(25:59):
don't have that luck. Every situation is unique and different
and problematic. To be honest with you, you know, the the
you know, age child is different, just as as every
situation and you react to that, and that's why I
think it's it's so important for our community to embrace
(26:21):
the Children's Home, because if it wasn't for you, if
it wasn't for Stacy and her organization, we wouldn't have that.
And Pittsburgh is is very fortunate to have the Children's Home,
so on behalf of all of us. I know that
you're very passionate and caring, and I want a CEO
(26:48):
with that kind of gravitas, So thank.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You, thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
We're going to end there. This has been the CEOs
used to know pot cast showcasing businesses that are driving
our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's commitment to the communities
we serve. Johnny Heart, Well, thank you so much for listening.
And welcome in. This is the CEO's use No podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's saylo to old friend
Stacey Sechler, CEO of the Children's Home. Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good to see you, Hi, Johnny, So tell us.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Everything we need to know about the organization.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
So, the Children's Home of Pittsburgh has been around since
eighteen ninety three and we have been a critical lifeline
for children and families navigating social, emotional and medical situations.
Right now, we are booming with six programs. No family
leaves our hospital with a medical bill. That is really
important because it takes a community to be able to
(00:43):
provide that level of support across all of our programs.
So we really are inviting everybody in. We want you
to get to see what happens behind our brick walls.
We are an incredible community resource, filling gaps and services
and we want the community to.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Know about us.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And open house coming up very soon next month. What
do you have going on?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yes, on Friday, September twelfth, we are holding an open
house for the community and friends and family to come
in and see what happens behind our brick walls on
Penn Avenue.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And I love it. It really changed my opinion. Well,
I've always had a high opinion about the Children's Children's Home,
but going in and having a tour it, it kind
of opened my eyes to exactly what you guys do.
I knew his adoption, I knew was a pediatric hospital,
and I knew different things. But once you go in
(01:36):
and you see the people doing the things that they do,
it really kind of opened my eyes. Do you get
do A lot of people say the same thing, yes, they.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Do, because really, you know, we're just a brick building
that you're driving, you know, past every day, and our
name doesn't really tell you what we do. And now
that we've built six new or three new programs, you know,
it is really hard for people to understand the critical
(02:05):
role that we play for our community and the level
of service and gaps and services that we fill. So
this is an effort to really welcome the community onto
you know, our our lovely playground that is open to
the community every day. It is an all inclusive playground.
We have a wheelchair tunnel, we have adaptive swings, and
(02:29):
then you can stay and have some food and play
some games in the backyard and we are staff is
providing tours throughout the buildings, so you'll get a glimpse
into our medical daycare, our pediatric specialty hospital. You'll get
to see where our team works hard with families who are,
you know, going through mental health crisis. We also have
(02:51):
a special little wall of our pediatric view patients that
you can really get to see what kind of world
they see through. And you know, it's it's just a
really special day that I think is going to allow
people who have wondered to kind of come and see behind.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Now I'm going to ask you about some of the
programs specifically, but I want to ask you well. First
of all, I had a chance to interview your predecessor,
Pam Keene. Then I got to interview both you and
Pam together as Pam introduced you as the new CEO.
Now it's it's almost been a year. So what is
(03:35):
that year been like as the new CEO of the
Children's Home?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Wow? Well, it's been a whirlwind.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And I can't say enough about my incredible team. I
have a wonderful team of all thought leaders and everybody
is driven by the same mission to really meet families
where they're at and identify what needs they have. And
you know, through that we've been able to really see
(04:03):
that there are unmet needs and there are you know,
critical needs for access such as you know, to more
mental health support.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You know, in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
We did a a community health Needs Assessment where we
surveyed community, our whole entire community to really understand what
the barriers were of services, you know, and what we
saw was we needed more access to mental health support.
I don't think that's a secret to anybody. There was
(04:34):
a need for increased childcare access. There was a need
for increased access for pediatric outpatient therapy that's PTOT speech
language development, and you know, we are really fit to
move into those spaces. You know, our counseling department grew
(04:56):
naturally from our foster care program. You know, we worked
so closely with youth, and we worked so closely with
families who were going through the adoptive process or going
through infertility and needed counseling or birth mothers, you know,
working with birth mothers and understanding whether or not this
was the right decision for them. So that naturally grew
(05:16):
into now we can provide this service more broadly and
not just you know, in those spaces within the counts,
within the foster care and adoption program, but now expanded further.
And that's just our counseling program. You know, the need
for the outpatient PTOT and speech. We already were providing
(05:40):
those services in house. So now we have you know,
started seeing more outpatient.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Services. We are growing that space.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
So if you are in need of or know of
any child who birth to twenty one that needs PTOT
or speech, we are seeing those patients now. And then
we are continuing to expand our Pediatric View program, which
is addressing cortical visual impairment and children, which happens to
(06:15):
be the leading cause of visual impairment and children and
the only visual impairment that can actually improve with the intervention.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'm sure you heard the childhood story the Little Engine
that Could. You're like the little hospital that can and will.
I mean you find gaps that other hospitals that you know,
the Children's Hospital for example, and you work closely with them. Yes,
there's certain things that they just can't provide and they
need a resource and you're that resource for a lot
(06:45):
of the things that they can't provide. You know, for example,
a premi a baby that's born premature. There's only a
limited time. But now once that that child is you know,
old enough to leave the hospital, but now that that
(07:05):
mother has to learn how to take care of that premie.
And that's something that you guys have taken over and saying, hey,
we're able to you know, extend that care for just
a little bit so that mother can knows how to
take care of that maybe not premature, or maybe it's
a child with a certain disability. Those are the things
(07:26):
that you're able to provide. So you really are the
little hospital that doesn't say no to anything.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
We really do try to fill those gaps.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And we are very proud of our partnership with Children's
Hospital and with the other nick U's and pickeews in
our area because you know, without us, it is hard
for families to get comfortable with understanding what the care
needs are going to be for their child. You know
that can you know, be a premie grower feeder who
(07:57):
needs to know how to feed. That could be a
child with a gtube and a family needing to understand
how to change a G tube, But it could also
be a child with a trait and a non eventilator.
There's so many different things, and honestly, our nurses are
the jack of all trades. They are the lifeline. They
(08:18):
are at the bedside every day. Their ratio is very low,
it's a one to three nurse patient ratio, but that
is because they are doing all the teaching with the families.
So in their assignment, they could have a premie, they
could have a G tube you toddler, and they could
have a thirteen year old tradd invented patient. So they
(08:40):
really do have multiple skills to be able to also
meet those families on wherever they're at in their journey,
to be able to help teach them and build that
confidence to then be able to go home. They're learning
on all the home equipment too, which is critically important
because you can discharge from any tertiary care hospital and
(09:02):
you're on and then you go home and you're on
home equipment. It's different, It sounds different, looks different, you
don't know what to do, so next thing you know,
you end up back in the ED and the cycle continues.
So that is why we were identified as you know,
creating this transition to home program.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And it doesn't stop there. It doesn't because maybe that
that parent has to go back to work and they
need childcare for that child with those special needs. Yes,
and you help them do that.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
And that is exactly how Child's Way it came about
because families do need to continue to work. No one
asked for the situations that.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
They are in.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And you know, when you have a family with or
when you have a child with medical complexities, they can't
go to a normal daycare. So it is you know,
Child's Way provides that support. It provides the daycare, it
provides the nursing, it provides all of the therapies needed
for that child, early intervention services, all of those needs
(10:02):
are getting met right at Child's Way. We are licensed
by the Department of Health and the Department of Human
Services and we are a keystone star for facility, which
is really amazing. And our teachers have such skill in
working with each of the different children in their developmental
needs and where they're at. And then also we have
(10:24):
our teachers and our therapists are all trained and specialized
in CBI now too, so we're really capturing a really
good group of education.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And you brought up CVII. Explain what that is and
the unique opportunity that Pittsburghers have here at the Children's Home.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yes, so Pediatric View is our program that addresses cortical
visual impairments.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
That's CBI, that is CVI.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You probably haven't heard of it because not many people
are aware of it. Doctor Christine Roman Lancey started Pediatric
View in nineteen ninety nine at West Penn Hospital in
the Nick You follow up clinic. She really paid attention
to how these children were oddly showing interest in light
(11:21):
and visual development was a little bit different, and so
she's dedicated her entire life to studying this and through
that she has designed a CBI Range Assessment, which she
is a tool that can determine what level of CVII
(11:44):
that child has. It provides a score, it provides a phase,
and provides a whole plan for how that child sees
how to modify the environment. And that's just from the
assessment tool. But really it CVI is the leading cause
of visual impairment and children, and nobody knows about it.
(12:06):
And if it is a visual impairment that can improve,
it is our responsibility to be able to do something
about that.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Well, it's not like every hospital, every community, or every
state has something addressing CBI. This is something that the
Children's Home does. This is a unique opportunity here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yes, so we doctor Christine roman Lancy works at the
Children's Home. We have an entire team who is trained
to screen, assess, provide advocacy, legal support, school support, all
of that for families. We are working with local schools,
(12:50):
We're working with the different therapy groups and organizations to
really try and get the education of CBI in their
hands so.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
They how many hospitals across the country have something addressing CBI,
Not many, not many.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Mostly the ones where doctor Christine roman Lancy has, yeah,
had an imprint.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Have a unique You have a unique opportunity. This is
something unique to Pittsburgh. I mean Pittsburgh in itself. We
always kind of you know, we take pride in our
you know, the medical facilities that we have because we
do have a lot of advanced medical facilities here in Pittsburgh.
And this makes your the Children's Home very unique.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
It is because what you don't realize it is, uh,
you know, it is the leading cause of visual impairment
and children. But what what it is described as is
imagine looking through a kaleidoscope, and you need to be
able to identify an apple. How can you identify an
(13:54):
apple and a kaleidoscope if you have no means of
understanding what that looks like. So imagine what that would
look like. In the case where you're learning to feed
and you have a spoon coming towards your mouth, you
have no means to know that that's a spoon. How
do you know that's a spoon in your in your
(14:15):
kaleidoscopic image? And so what are what are you going
to demonstrate? What characteristics are you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Going to demonstrate?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You're going to revert, You're gonna, you know, be away
from the spoon, You're gonna yell, You're gonna, you know be,
You're going to act out, and that those actions and
characteristics often get misdiagnosed, and they often get misdiagnosed as autism,
as attention deficit disorder, and a number of other behavioral issues.
(14:44):
And really it's CBI because a child is so frustrated
because they can't access their visual environment that they demonstrate
similar characteristics to other diagnoses. I will tell you the
number of children that she sees that comes in with
an autism or ADHD diagnosis, it's always cv I and
(15:09):
then what the families are told their child can't do
through a modified environment, addressing that child's favorite color, dimming
the lights, making it taking away all of the other
light in the room, and distraction, being quiet, and then
really teaching and using your words to explain what the
(15:30):
what the visual you know clues are about what the
item is, and then you watch and the child can
actually do the activity and there's no there's no there's
no you know, argument against that when so right now
you have all of these kids getting misdiagnosed with autism
(15:53):
when it could be CVI with a simple screen that
takes five minutes, and you can set these kids off
on a path where they can actually learn to visually
access their environment. And if you can learn visually, then
you can actually learn.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
In life.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And so it's it's very it's it's disheartening because we
can do something about it. And it's a simple screen
that you can do at infancy, at birth, and it's
based on did all you know, uh, did this happen
in birth? Or these diagnoses or you know, did all
of these medical complexities happen. There's a whole slew of
(16:34):
medical information and data that demonstrate this child should be
screened for CBI. And that's where we're at right now,
and that's why we're speaking so passionately about it, because
we finally have a reliable and valid tool that has
been clinically proven to assess, and now we need people
to understand what CBI is so we can get these
(16:54):
kids early in infancy, early on, and that it's not
something where they're sixteen seventeen. We're catching it and we're
trying to build, for a waste of time.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
The Child's Way, And I'm sorry, the Pediatric View program
is just one of the programs, one of six seven.
You could have a number of programs. And we've had
this conversation before, is that it's really hard to describe
what the Children's Home does because you do so much.
But the uniqueness of your organization is that every single
(17:31):
person that I've had contact with is singlely focused on
what they want to do and what they want to accomplish.
And I think that's how you've succeeded in becoming indispensable
to this community, is that the people that you have
for Child's Way, the branch where you're taking care of
(17:57):
you're actually taking in kids from the from daycare to
you know, after school programs and things like that. And
the people that you have working there, it's their mission.
They are devoted to that mission. And it seems like
every single person that I've talked to is devoted to
whatever their particular mission. Now, one of your you know,
(18:21):
slogans is that one family at a time, and every
family is unique, and you've adapted to every single family
in every single situation. Is it is a a it's
a huge effort, and it takes a lot of understanding.
What breaks my heart is people don't understand what the
(18:43):
Children's Home does and what they bring to the community.
And if they did, they would embrace your organization as
they do and as they should Children's Hospital. They a
lot of people assume that you're part of that organization
and you're not. You know, they have some big corporate dollars.
You don't have that advantage. You fell in a desperate need,
(19:06):
but you don't have that financial help that UPMC provides
Children's Hospital.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yes, that's not a.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Question, that's that's actually a fact. But you know, so,
I think it starts with an open house and inviting
people in and once people go into your organization and
see exactly what you do, it really changes. It changed
my mind. I was sympathetic to what you did. You
(19:41):
do on a daily basis, but once you go in,
you go, oh, they do this. And you see a
child in the daycare center, you go, oh, yeah, that
mom has to work. They can't just take that child
to any daycare around the corner and have them, you know,
(20:01):
if they have special needs, you know, and we're talking
like trakes and and things like that, and that's what
you guys provide. And that's just that's just one small bit.
And we haven't even talked about your signature program that
you've you've which is adoption, and we haven't even talked
about that. And that's kind of like how your organization started.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Because it's just molded so much over time and transformed
because not that adoption isn't still a core piece of
what we do. But you know, even through that program,
it grew into you know, foster care and participating in
the state wide adoption network. And you know, there's over
three thousand children who need foster homes. So please call
(20:47):
us or look up our website if you're interested you know,
because that that really is is how we're growing now
into counseling, so every bit of it is is interconnected
and integrated and family center focused. You know, we look
at our families who go through our hospital and we're
(21:07):
teaching them how to care for their child, how to
care for their child who's taking care of the parent.
So naturally, now our counseling services can address you know,
families who are going through a change in what they
thought their child's future was going to look like, or
who you know, the overwhelm that happens when you know
(21:27):
your day is going to look totally different now because
you have to think about how your child's going to
get to all of their appointments, or how you're going
to get the medical equipment that you.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Need in order to go to where you need to go.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
There's so many things that we do that help identify
all of those little nuances for families going through these
challenges and really trying to remove those barriers. Our team
can help provide those resources and really work with families
wherever they're at in their journey, and it is across
all programs. You know, our social work team is led
(22:02):
by you know, our director of our counseling and family
support services programs, so she oversees all of it and
can see how it all ties together. And that really
is how our entire team leads. Where we're you know,
nobody siloed in their own little worlds. Every program over crosses.
(22:23):
Even in Child's Way. We didn't know three years ago
about CBI. We screened all of our children in Child's
Way and thirteen of our children have CBI. So now
we've worked with our local partners. Thank you to Dual
Lingo for you know, supporting a capacity grant for us,
and we've built out a cortical visual impairment program down
in Child's Ways to make sure that we're addressing all
(22:45):
of their educational needs. So it's as do you learn,
it's what you do with it. And I'm really proud
of our team because what we learn and how we
mold and move forward and we have a can do attitude.
It isn't based on money, even though we really need
the support, we figure out.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
How to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
And you know, we have wonderful partners in our community,
wonderful donors who have come through and who really engaged
and understand, you know what we're faced with, especially being
you know, eighty percent relied on Medicaid right now, and
we all know what that means. You know, our team
is really forging forward, and I really am proud of
our community and the you know, local and state representatives
(23:30):
that have come out to see what critical support that
we provide, because without us, it's not a it's not
a good picture for these teams.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I promise myself that I would keep this short, but
every time I start talking about the Children's Home, there's
so much to talk about and we barely scratch the surface.
But I'm really curious about a couple of things. You've
been CEO for about a year now, but you've been
with the Children's Home for quite some time. Was there
is there anything part of being CEO that you weren't expecting?
(24:05):
Was any surprises?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I think the biggest surprise is the transition from you know,
being someone who has worked with an incredible CEO for
so long to being the person who is solely responsible
to make sure that all of this continues to happen,
because without this in our community, these families really don't
(24:31):
have a lot of support.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
And our staff really believe in this mission and it's
important that we have our community to you know, understand
and support us if it gets a little bit tough, heer,
and that's why we just want more people to understand
what we do.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
You know, a lot of times I think people when
you talk about healthcare, we kind of are very dismissed.
Is like hospitals don't understand what the patients are going through. Well,
with your organization, I never I never feel like they
don't understand what the what the child is going through,
(25:15):
what the parent is going through, what the what the
grandparents are going through. Your empathy for the family situation
is almost paramount. And each person who works at the
children's home is reacting to that imperative. And that's that's
(25:36):
got to be a weighty situation. Because we kind of
talked about every situation is different, so every time that
it's not like, you know, some hospitals may deal with
hernia repair, you know, and that's what they do, and
so that's what they do on a daily basis. You
(25:59):
don't have that luck. Every situation is unique and different
and problematic. To be honest with you, you know, the the
you know, age child is different, just as as every
situation and you react to that, and that's why I
think it's it's so important for our community to embrace
(26:21):
the Children's Home, because if it wasn't for you, if
it wasn't for Stacy and her organization, we wouldn't have that.
And Pittsburgh is is very fortunate to have the Children's Home,
so on behalf of all of us. I know that
you're very passionate and caring, and I want a CEO
(26:48):
with that kind of gravitas, So thank.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You, thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
We're going to end there. This has been the CEOs
used to know pot cast showcasing businesses that are driving
our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's commitment to the communities
we serve. Johnny Heart, Well, thank you so much for listening.
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