The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital is now Bethany Children’s Health Center.
At The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital, we live daily by our core values and embrace the enduring belief that life is sacred, an inherent gift from a loving Creator, and that all children are of equal worth. This becomes the cornerstone of our mission to maximize the potential of every child in our care. These values and beliefs also empower each of us to become an ambassador for the hospital as we talk with family, friends and new acquaintances. In doing so, we never know where it may lead.
Recently, Amanda Merritt, a Teacher Assistant in the Complex Care units at the hospital, was able to visit her Great Uncle, John Kornitzer, in Kansas. Because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, it had been 2 ½ years since they had seen each other and had a chance to catch up.
Amanda, like so many of our employees, is passionate about her work and the mission of the hospital. She and John were talking after dinner one night during her visit, and she told him about the hospital’s Christian mission to care for medically complex and fragile children. She spoke about the variety of specialists, therapies, activities, education and spiritual enrichment available to patients.
“I told him that we do everything we can to make this an enjoyable, beneficial and safe environment for our patients who are not able to be at home. God’s hands are at work here in everything we do, and I think you can see that in the smiles on our patients’ faces,” Amanda says.
Amanda had recently learned from Dr. Johnson that there are only 26 pediatric facilities like The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital in the country. She shared that fact with John, along with describing so many of the services the hospital offers, such as outpatient therapies and the new Adaptive Recreation and Fine Arts Center and adaptive ballfield.
“This hospital does everything in its power to give our patients every opportunity they can have, opportunities they might not receive in a regular inpatient hospital setting or at home,” she says.
After witnessing Amanda’s passion for her work and gaining an understanding of what happens at the hospital, John made a gift to The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital through his foundation, Green Mountain Charitable Foundation.
“I think my love of this hospital and our patients, along with our Christian mission moved him to donate,” Amanda shares. “He loves me and cares about my work and what I am passionate about. He was in a position to provide an amazing gift.”
It wasn’t something Amanda ever expected, but she is thrilled that simply by talking about what she loves, John was moved to make such a generous gift.
“Everything we do here is for the kids, and if I can spread that mission outside of the walls of the hospital, especially to my family, that makes me happy and grateful. The Lord works in amazing ways,” she says. “We see that every day.”