INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Cassie Rinchack’s son Caleb was diagnosed at age 5 with sensory processing disorder, a condition which causes motor clumsiness, behavioral issues and anxiety.
Intellectually, he was on par with his peers but he lacked the ability to hold a pencil properly in his hand, tie his shoe laces and button his shirt.
Loud noises and other stress-inducing things spiked his anxiety, sending him into enduring meltdowns followed by emotional tailspins.
There’s no medication, no quick fix.
But occupational, speech and physical therapy can make a big difference – and plenty of it, delivered consistently and regularly by trained therapists who specialize in pediatrics.
So when the Rinchacks of Vero Beach sought help for their son a few years ago, they fell short on places to go.
“There’s been nowhere to go,” said Cassie Rinchack who’s now breathing a huge sigh of relief since Sunshine Physical Therapy Clinic opened a treatment program for children, Sunshine Kids.
The 17th Avenue clinic’s adult program remains intact, but now children have a place to go, too, for various therapies.
“It breaks my heart to see a child who could be benefitting from a program like this not having access,” said Rinchack.
Until recently, there was one pediatric physical therapy clinic in Indian River County but it had a three-year wait list.
The other place children could go was Health South outpatient physical therapy unit but its program was limited – its therapists weren’t trained in all the various disorders, such as sensory processing disorder.
The Health South unit has since closed.
“We couldn’t find anyone who treated children,” she recalled. “My child couldn’t wait three years. He needed help right away.”
Though far from ideal, each week the Rinchacks drove four hours roundtrip to Wellington to get Caleb the therapy he needed.
Although it was recommended that he have three weekly sessions, the distance was prohibitive because both parents work.
The Rinchacks did what they could, supplementing the professional sessions with their home version, not an easy task given that the symptoms of the disorder can change and take on new forms as the child advances in one area and possibly regresses in another.
“It was a nightmare,” Rinchack said.
The long trips confined in the car only heightened Caleb’s anxiety and she’d have to take him to a park in Wellington right before and after the session to calm him down.
“It was an all-day ordeal.”
This went on for 2½ years.
There simply were no options, not within Indian River County, or St. Lucie for that matter.
“As a parent you do as much as you can, but you don’t have a therapy background yourself so it’s difficult.”
Now, Caleb, 9, can go to therapy sessions within a few miles of his home in Vero.
“I’m ecstatic that they are offering a program here in Vero Beach to meet the needs of hundreds of children,” said Rinchack. “As a mother of a child going through all that, I saw that it put extra stress on him that he didn’t need to have.”
Sunshine Physical Therapy Clinic is Indian River County’s only non-profit outpatient rehabilitation clinic.
By opening the TheraPeds physical therapy clinic for special-needs children from birth to age 18, the clinic, also, referred to as Sunshine Kids, will provide rehabilitative physical therapy for children with injury, congenital abnormalities, neuromuscular conditions, orthopedic defects and developmental delays.
Lynne Gates House, Sunshine Physical Therapy Clinic administrator, said the importance of the pediatric clinic: “It all has to do with the child reaching his or her maximum potential. If you have a child who is not receiving the skilled care he or she deserves because it’s not accessible, you can assume they aren’t going to meet their maximum potential.”
“We want these kids to be as functional in society at possible,” she added. “Without the care – and the earlier it starts, the more successful it is – the kids just aren’t going to reach their potential.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 50 children have autism spectrum effects.
In Indian River County, there are 29,000 newborns to 18 year olds so in theory, some 2,500 of them could be in the autism spectrum.
Nothing is changing with the adult section of the 10,000-square-foot Sunshine Physical Therapy Clinic.
The children’s clinic takes up one room thus far. However, there is potential for expansion as the program grows.
Health South has already donated equipment for the children’s clinic.
The clinic is taking growth slowly, staffing up as referrals come in, House said.
Currently, there is one pediatric physical therapist and two assistants with extensive training.
“It’s a slow process,” she said. “We’re taking one to two patients a week until we make sure all our processes are in place and we’ve got things running smoothly before we ramp up.”
The facility opened in 1953 to treat children with polio. Over the following 20 years, things changed drastically with polio being eradicated and school districts taking on the education and physical needs of challenged children. In order for the facility to survive, it evolved into an adult physical therapy clinic.
Caleb can now tie his shoelaces, hold a pencil in his hand and calm down when he feels stress coming on. He is down to one mild meltdown a week from three major ones.
“That’s a huge success,” Rinchack said. “There’s an emotional trauma for the child to have a meltdown. The therapy is a huge aspect to helping them.”
His motor skills are still a work in progress and they’re now at the level of a 6-year-old.
“It’s not an overnight success, but there’s been a lot of progress,” she said. “He has to go several times a week to keep progressing. And now he can.”
Michele Klager, Sunshine Physical Therapy Clinic board member, spearheaded the children’s program.
Her oldest daughter, now-22, suffered Tourette’s Syndrome when she was a youngster, so as a mother, Klager knows all too well how difficult it was to find the kind of specialized therapy for her child locally.
“It’s very stressful to have these things going on,” she said. “We were scrambling for answers and each year was a challenge.”
As a Medicare-approved facility, the clinic is now independent of all outside sources of revenue, depending on fees for services, donations, and endowments to fund operations.
Sunshine Physical Therapy Clinic recently received a donation of $50,000 from Steve and Rose Sadlek, which House said will be used to supplement the gap between insurance reimbursement and what it costs to provide the therapies, salaries and overhead expenses.
The non-profit organization’s current goal is to raise $20,000 by the end of the year in order to receive a Challenge Grant for the same amount.
“We’re hoping the community will pitch in,” said House.
