OHCA Spring/Summer 2019

The Oregon Caregiver SPRING/SUMMER 2019 www.ohca.com 22 PROFILE LEADER JoAnn Vance, Executive Director of Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children talks about some of the innovative and inspiring programming going on at the Center and what led her to her current role there. Can you tell us about the unique mission of the Providence Child Center for Medically Fragile Children? The piece I love most about the overall Providence mission is taking care of the poor and vulnerable. We have a great video on our website of a mom having to acquiesce care, and that’s the most vulnerable thing you can do as a parent. The mom in the video says it is the best thing they did for their family. They allowed their child to have 24/7 care and that allowed them to be 24/7 parents rather than 24/7 caregivers. This issue focuses on health and wellness programming. What are some of the programs your team provides to the children here? Wellness, especially for our kids, means doing everything a typical child does but maybe just a little slower. We do the Rose parade. We do aquatic therapy. It is used for physical therapy, but also for families. We had a young man here who would get in the jacuzzi with his family, and his mom said that was the only time she could hold her son. We involve these kids in the community. We have one program called friend-to-friend. This program is a partnership with about 15 Catholic schools in the area, and it starts at the beginning of the year. The students come in and they meet the kids here and once a month they come back and visit their friend and they get to learn about them. The essays they write at the end of the program are lifechanging. They talk about how different they thought they were from the kids here and how they found so many similarities with them. That’s not only wellness for our kids but that is wellness for our community. We do camp during the summer and the kids get to go out to the movies and get on the max—anything that any other kids can do. We have prom too. When we talk about wellness for these kids and young adults, wellness is being part of a community. That community includes their families too. What makes Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children different from other care facilities? We don’t turn anyone away and we take every child there is. Our foundation raises nearly $2 million a year so that we can break even and provide more staff and services for these children. Can you tell me about how you got started in healthcare? I always wanted to be a nurse. My dad was in healthcare and I grew up watching Emergency, and I just loved the thought of being able to serve folks in their time of need. When I was in nursing school, I had a medically fragile child. She was 10 years old, and right after I graduated, she died. That sent me down the path of pediatrics. I started at a level 1 trauma center here in town and worked in acute care. I loved being able to be there 24/7 with families and being able to walk their journey together and guide them. Then I moved to inner-city nursing. I absolutely loved that. I loved the families, the cultural interactions, and caring for high-risk populations. After that, I went back to school and got my second bachelor’s degree in cultural and ethnic studies on how women influence upbringing of children and families. I learned so much. When I went back to work, I knew I wanted something mission driven. I got offered a job at Providence, and when I walked into this place I knew that it was my calling. JoAnn Vance, Executive Director Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children