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Winter/Spring 2017
PeaceHealth’s Courageous Kids program helps heal grieving youth
For the past 21 years, the Courageous Kids Program
at Sacred Heart Medical Center University District has
provided free grief support to children and their families
who have experienced the death of a loved one.
Courageous Kids offers support groups, summer camp and a
Teen Theater Troupe, providing childhood grief information
and understanding to a broad audience.
Shelly, a painfully shy, emotionally lost little 11-year-old girl,
started coming to the Courageous Kids support groups soon
after her father’s sudden death. Her dad had been working
underneath a car when the jack slipped and the car crushed
him. Shelly participated in support groups, attended
summer camp, and also joined the Teen Theater Troupe,
where she was able to publicly give voice to the agonies and
vulnerabilities of her grief.
Eventually she began to heal and decided to become
a volunteer with the program to help other children
experiencing their own loss. Shelly blossomed into a
brilliant, accomplished and confident young woman, who
at age 29 is completing her PhD in sociology at UC Berkeley.
She now volunteers five days every summer to run the art
program at Courageous Kids summer camp and supervise
counselors-in-training.
Like Shelly, many of the young adult volunteers at
Courageous Kids became involved after experiencing their
own loss, and each has a special gift of connecting with the
hearts and spirits of those served by the program.
They hear things like: “I know what it’s like to feel so sad,
nothing else exists.” “My loved one died too when I was
little.”
Through playing, laughing, crying and grieving with the
young survivors, they serve as a shining light and as role
models, giving hope to children in the program that they
can survive and be happy.
The Courageous Kids program has helped thousands of
vulnerable and at-risk youth like Shelly, providing early
intervention to the effects of Adverse Childhood Events
(ACEs) that are strongly related to the development and
prevalence of a wide range of health problems throughout a
person’s lifespan
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Saint Alphonsus offers on-campus access to physical therapy
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center—Baker City and
Saint Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services encourage their
employees to be involved in activities that enrich and assist
members of the community, especially in areas of need.
In 2009 it was determined that there was a need in the
community for on-campus access to physical therapy
services at Baker High School to better assist students that
were either uninsured or that would benefit from missing
less class time by being able to go to therapy appointments
on the high school campus.
At Baker High School, Saint Alphonsus therapists assess
students’ muscular and skeletal pain and injuries, as well as
to evaluate their “brain status” after suffering a concussion.
The most common complaints from students include back/
neck pain and knee pain. Many times these pains are able
to be treated with education on proper posture and spine
alignment, as well as with strength building (core and hip
strength) to better address knee and trunk function and
stability.
Because there was a need in the Baker City community for
more in-depth post-concussion care, Saint Alphonsus now
provides computerized neurocognitive testing at no charge
to student athletes.
Progressive exertional training can also be performed by
therapists to help prepare students to safely return to play
after injuries or a concussion. Within the last two years,
further needs for sports medicine were identified, so the
services have been extended to Mondays after school.
Student athletes that need to be quickly screened and
treated by a physical therapist are taking advantage of this
community benefit.
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SPECIAL SECTION: A COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY