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Director of Development 1761 East Woodcrest Avenue La Habra, California 90631-3260 Tel . 562-691-4227; Fax 562-691-5327 |
Director of Major Gifts 1733 Sixteenth St., Washington, DC 20009–3103 Tel. 202-232-3579, Ext. 143, Fax 202-387-1843 Or call 800-486-3331, Ext. 143 council@srmason-sj.org |
My name is Dr. Phillip Levinson. I was recently asked by Ill. Earl E. Ihle, Jr., 33°, Director of Major Gifts for the Supreme Council, to contribute an article for the "Where Do You Do Your Shopping?" series. I'd like to share some of the history of the Oregon Scottish Rite Clinics.
For the past 20 years, I have been the Executive Director of the Oregon Scottish Rite Clinics. The program began in October of 1980 on what amounted to a shoestring budget and a plan to have a statewide program with a main clinic and satellite clinics. The main clinic would diagnose speech-language disorders, provide therapy, and handle all administrative services for the state. The satellite clinics would only provide diagnosis and therapy. We began our main clinic in Portland with a half-time secretary and me. Within six months, we needed another clinician because the waiting list had become so long. In 1988, as a result of some very large donations, we opened our first satellite clinic in Roseburg, Oregon. More donations and the beginning of a modest endowment fund enabled us to open a satellite clinic in Bend in 1991 and another satellite clinic in Klamath Falls in 1992. The satellite model enabled us to avoid unnecessary duplication of administrative, legal, and accounting costs.
All of our clinics provide diagnosis and therapy for speech-language disorders for children from late infancy to kindergarten age. The clinic in Portland accepts referrals from parents and speech-language professionals. Our satellite clinics require an initial evaluation by the local public school early intervention/early childhood special education program. We believe that this requirement in the more rural areas where our satellite clinics are located reduces the risk of a child not receiving needed services.
In addition to providing clinical services, we are involved in the education of speech-language pathologists and physicians. Graduate students participate at our Portland clinic as part of their clinical training experiences. We jointly support a post-masters clinical fellowship with the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). The clinical fellow participates as a member of an interdisciplinary diagnostic team at OHSU and provides speech-language therapy at our main clinic. The clinics are a rotation for third-year Family Practice Residents from OHSU. As a result of their experience with us, these physicians develop a basic understanding of speech-language disorders in children and, consequently, are better able to meet the needs of the children they see. Involvement in the education of professionals enables us to have a positive impact beyond that achieved through clinical services.
Our annual budget is approximately $350,000 or approximately $65 to $70 per treatment hour. Over 80% of our budget is used to provide clinical services to children with severe speech-language disorders. These children may have one or more of the following problems:
In addition to the language problems, these children may have attention, memory, and behavior problems.
Treatment is both essential and cost effective. Every $1 spent on pre-school education saves $3 to $6 in later remedial education, welfare cost, and crime control. Most children with unremediated speech-language disorders do poorly in school and are more likely to drop out of school. In later years, there is a greater risk for unemployment or involvement in crime, consequences that ultimately increase society's costs. Our clinics provide vital therapy that saves the government money and improves the quality of children's lives.
Here are two examples of the children
we treat. When I first met Courtney, she was 2½ years old
and did not talk. Most children of this age have a vocabulary
of several hundred words and are talking in simple sentences.
During our first visit, her grandmother told me that Courtney's
physician had said she was retarded. An evaluation of Courtney's
language skills indicated she understood language as well as any
2 ½-year-old, but her speech was more like that of a child
less than one year of age. She was not able to imitate words,
consonants, or vowels accurately. All areas of her development,
with the exception of speech, were normal. She was diagnosed as
having dyspraxia. Basically, this meant that she was unable to
plan and remember the movements necessary for speech.
Progress was slow. It took about three months for her to use her first words, "yup", "no", and "more." I saw Courtney twice weekly for 4 ½ years. When she left us at age seven, she was using complete sentences, and 75% to 80% of what she said could be understood. In 1990, I saw her, at her mother's request, to evaluate her academic achievement. She was functioning at grade level in reading, math, and spelling. Nine years passed before I heard from Courtney again. In May 1999, I received an invitation to her high school graduation. As of this writing, Courtney is a student at Portland Community College.
A second example of the children
we treat is Kellianne. I saw Kellianne for the first time when
she was three years old. She entered our clinic cautiously, clutching
the back of her mother's skirt. She was extremely shy and communicated
only with grunts and gestures. Like Courtney, Kellianne was unable
to plan and remember the movements necessary for speech. Kellianne
was seen twice weekly for three years. When she completed her
therapy, she was using complete sentences, initiating conversations,
and over 90% of what she said could be understood. Twelve years
elapsed from the end of her therapy until the next time I saw
her. In the late spring of 1999, Kellianne contacted me. She was
a college student majoring in Speech Pathology and wanted to spend
some time during the summer observing and helping in our clinic
in Portland.
As we renewed our acquaintance, I was impressed by her poise and communication skills. She told me that, as a child, she knew she was different. She remembered that her usual responses to other children's active chatter and play were silence and isolation. She said, "My success as a student and a community spokesperson is directly related to the therapy received at the Scottish Rite Clinic so many years ago. Socially and intellectually, I am years ahead of what my proposed levels without treatment were. I just hope that others will have the same opportunities to improve their lives through the services of Scottish Rite clinics."
I know that every Scottish Rite clinic has success stories like these. I know that these successes would not have been possible without the generosity of Scottish Rite Masons and others who recognized a need, had a vision, and made that vision a reality. When I remember that $3 to $6 is saved for every $1 spent on pre-school education, when I think of the difference the Oregon Scottish Rite clinics made for Courtney, Kellianne, and their families, I know that our donors are doing more than shopping. They're investing.
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Ill. Thomas M. Boles, 33°, G.C. (left in photo) has worked extensively in fund-raising for children's programs throughout our Fraternity. For more information on planned giving, call Bro. Tom at 562–691–4227 (Fax 562–691–5327) or the Scottish Rite Foundation, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., at 202–232–3579, ext. 143. Ill. Earl E. Ihle, Jr., 33°, is our development team's Director of Major Gifts. He has been a member of the Fraternity for 25 years and served in 1978 as Master of Lafayette Lodge, No. 111, Baltimore, Maryland. He is also a member of Boumi Shrine Temple in Baltimore, the York Rite, and a dual member of the Scottish Rite Valleys of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. You can reach Bro. Ihle toll free at 1–800–486–3331, ext. 143. |