COLUMBUS, Ohio – One central Ohio family is traveling to Washington D.C. next week to seek support for the reauthorization of the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Act (CHGME). Funding from the program enables children’s hospitals around the country to increase training for pediatric specialists, a field of great shortage in children’s health care. Members of Congress are being asked to endorse the current legislation that would reauthorize CHGME for another five years. The program is set expire on Sept. 30, 2018.
The Manch family and their son Logan will join other families in the U.S. capital to share their stories for the Children’s Hospital Association’s 14th-Annual Speak Now For Kids Family Advocacy Day, June 26-27.
Logan, an energetic 4-year-old, has relied on the care from several pediatric specialists since he was diagnosed with Bilateral Profound Sensorineural Hearing Loss. Logan’s deafness was identified at birth through mandatory newborn hearing screening required by Ohio law. Testing is done in an effort to begin intervention as soon as possible since hearing loss can have a major impact on a child’s language development.
In all, Logan is seen by several pediatric specialists, including a neurotologist, auditory verbal therapist, speech language pathologist and audiologist, a multidisciplinary approach to his care. At 10 months old, Logan received bilateral cochlear implants, and a few weeks later the implants were activated, allowing Logan to hear for the first time. Charlie Manch and Sarah Lodge, Logan’s parents, have been working to improve Logan’s language skills with early intervention services and auditory verbal therapy. In addition, Logan’s parents work to maximize Logan’s language opportunities by doing things like narrating their everyday activities.
“Our family has benefitted tremendously from the skilled pediatric specialists at Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” said Sarah. “We hope CHGME is passed so that more families have access to the same level of care that we were fortunate to have right in our backyard.”
Additionally, Logan has chronic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease that results in low platelet counts. The chronic ITP diagnosis requires Logan to visit additional specialists for his care. He is currently undergoing genetic testing for, what his providers believe, is an unidentified genetic condition that may be the source of his multiple diagnoses.
When not spending time with his care team, Logan loves to run outside, read books and enjoys superheroes, especially Batman.
“On behalf of the children we treat at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, I urge members of Congress to pass the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Act,” said Steve Allen, MD, CEO of Nationwide Children’s. “Nationwide Children’s and 57 other children’s hospitals across the country receive this important funding for the training of nearly half of the nation’s pediatricians. Bipartisan support of the act will make a difference in the lives of countless children.”
About the Children’s Hospital Association
For more information on Family Advocacy Day, visit childrenshospitals.org, or follow the families on Facebook at facebook.com/speaknowforkids or Twitter, @speaknowforkids, #speaknowforkids..
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2017-18 list of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare systems providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of nearly 13,000 providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.4 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.
Note to editors: The Manch family resides in Dublin, Ohio, 43017