Sirens blare and lights flash as the ambulance pulls up to the front of a home in Camas, Wash. A weary father ushers the paramedics to his daughter’s bedroom. They quickly notice a little girl struggling for each breath, with a concerned mother sitting bedside trying to ease her daughter’s distress. Two young boys stand by, quiet and solemn, as the paramedics rush their sister out the door and race her off to the hospital, yet again. This is a scene that routinely replayed at the Crumpacker home during the first four years of Rachel’s life.
Rachel has a severe form of a rare genetic disorder called Opitz syndrome. Her condition requires round-the-clock care, which her parents, Sheri and Myron Crumpacker, provided at home until she was 4. Rachel then went to her new home at the Center for Medically Fragile Children at Providence Child Center, where she has resided for last five years. “It was the hardest thing in the world for me to move our daughter to the center,” says Myron, “but I’m glad we did because she’s healthier and so much more comfortable.”
The care at Providence has made a huge difference in the family’s
life. “We are able to spend quality time together as a family,” says
Sheri. “Before she came to the center, all of our time and effort
was spent caring for Rachel, and our two sons were left feeling neglected
with two exhausted parents.
“Caring for a severely disabled child requires a strict, regimented schedule all day and all night with medications, feedings, treatments and therapies. The reality is that you have other children to care for, and yet if you are late with that one dose of medication you risk an onset of serious medical complications.”
“The Center for Medically Fragile Children provides the structure and support that Rachel needs,” adds Myron. “She is thriving and our family, as a whole, is thriving too.”
The Center for Medically Fragile Children is just part of what makes Providence Child Center one of a kind.