Kent and Essex Mutual Insurance has donated $100,000 to the Chatham-Kent Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation.
The donation is part of a $6-million local fundraising goal to trigger provincial funding for a new and larger $28.5-million 'Butterfly Building'. The money is earmarked for a warm water therapy pool that can be used by clients, schools, physiotherapy clinics, and community groups year-round.
Mike Grail, foundation board chair, says demand for specialized therapy for children and youth with special needs is growing in Chatham-Kent.
"With increased waiting lists and with all the different services that Donna and her team are now going to be responsible for on a local level, it really requires extra funding and a new facility to be able to take on that added capacity," says Grail.
There's no date yet to start construction.
Donna Litwin-Makey, executive director, says one in nine local children access the centre for physiotherapy, speech therapy, audiology, adapted recreation, music therapy, social work, occupational therapy, autism services, and respite.
"I know when our centre opened at that particular spot in 1984 we just had a few hundred kids on caseload but now we're at the 3,000 mark," Litwin-Makey says.
Litwin-Makey says a larger, state-of-the-art facility is needed to better accommodate the growing caseload and the community.
"We're going to be doing more outreach work with the community and school programs. So, that adds staff and brings families in for specialized programs into our centre," says Litwin-Makey.