Irony alert - Clinic for special-needs children in Wasilla to shut down

[proud2BlibKansan]

Clinic for special-needs children to shut down

PROVIDENCE: Financial woes cited for closing of center that opened in 2006.

By S.J. KOMARNITSKY
[e-mail]


WASILLA -- One of just a few clinics in the Valley providing therapy and rehabilitation for special-needs children is closing.

Providence Health & Services said the Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Therapy Center on Seward-Meridian Parkway will be shut down this spring.

A company spokeswoman said the decision was prompted by financial losses at the center.

The clinic, located just across from the Wasilla Wal-Mart, opened in 2006 and has a current list of 85 patients, including both adults and children, Providence spokeswoman Kirsten Schultz said. Six employees offer a variety of services from therapy for those recovering from injuries to speech and occupational therapy for needs-challenged children.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/686257.html

[orleans]

1. big irony alert if you ask me.

Other providers, however, report long waiting lists, and one parent said there are no practical alternatives for patients like her 3-year-old autistic son.

Shawna Tidwell, a Wasilla area certified nurse assistant said her son Caleb needs both occupational and speech therapy for help with communicating and learning to modify some of his behaviors.

"They're closing their doors and there is nothing else for special needs children out here," she said.

The Valley has one other full-time practice that offers occupational, physical and speech therapy for children, according to Tidwell and other providers.

It's called Mountain Magic Therapy and Valley Kids Speech Therapy and is located on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. But therapists there said they have waiting lists dozens of children long.

Tidwell said her son was on the waiting list for more than a year and didn't get in.

She also was on a waiting list for the Providence center before she was accepted about six months ago.

Before that, she drove her son to a clinic in Anchorage twice a week, a chore that was costing her almost $500 a month in gas and drove her and her husband to take out advances on their salaries.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/686257.html

so...i wonder what that asshole (palin) will do to fix this? let's guess. nothing?

[Blue_In_AK]

2. She specifically rejected the idea of stimulus money

that would be related to social services, stating that she didn't want the state to be on the hook for any of that spending once the federal money runs out. In other words, she doesn't want people to "get used" to social services and then expect the state to provide them later. The only stimulus money she wants is to build pipelines and exploit Alaska's resources.

Real "pro life" there, Sarah.

[firedupdem]

3. She is truly sick. You are right...all she talks about is that pipeline. n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

4. So she only believes in stimulus if it leads to laying pipe?

Truth be told I feel sorry for these people, but if they want social services they should move to a city. People living in places like Wasilla who want things like hospitals and bowling alleys are like those folks who want to go "camping" with a satellite TV and their frigidaire :eyes:

Want to live in the woods? Great... then no roads and schools for you. Go squat in a hut ;)

And don't anyone try to tell me that they grow food or something in Wasilla. Their only product seems to be dingbats as far as I saw during the election.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Actually, the Wasilla-Palmer area is the fastest growing part of Alaska.

They're like Anchorage's bedroom communities -- they're only 30 miles up the highway. It would be better if they developed their own services out there, made their own jobs, so they wouldn't have to commute into Anchorage all the time. Wasilla used to be woodsy and quaint, but now it's just like any other sprawling, unplanned, ugly suburb.

[Indenturedebtor]

11. Well personally I believe that we should leave the woods to the ecosphere that supports us

Sprawling suburbs and "quaint" little burgs that gobble up pristine land so that people can feel "rustic" are inefficient for production and cause a huge amount of damage to the biosphere.

If we're going to have all of these billions of happy little consumers on this planet, then we need to live in city-hives. Every little backwoods house requires a rediculously wasteful amount of infrastructure to build and support.

[scarletwoman]

15. Maybe you should inform yourself a bit before you get all judgemental.

The city of Anchorage is basically trapped between mountains and ocean, there's very little physical space in which to expand the city. Try looking at a topographical map.

Wasilla is where it is because of the strictures of a major river delta and tidal flats between it and Anchorage. It's not "backwoods" or "quaint", it's simply one of the closest geographical areas to Anchorage that has room for major population expansion.

sw

[Indenturedebtor]

17. How about building UP instead of OUT? n/t

[Donnachaidh]

19. that would work in an earthquake area, riiiiigghht

:eyes:

[scarletwoman]

23. Yeah, there's that, too. I was thinking he meant "up" as in higher up in the mountains that ring

Anchorage. But you're probably right, the poster probably meant "up" as in taller buildings -- which is absolutely insane. No one in their right mind would want to occupy a high-rise in Anchorage -- or Wasilla for that matter.

Even living where I did in Willow, which is much further inland, we got some major shaking now and then.

sw

[Indenturedebtor]

27. See my response below re: earthquakes pls n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

26. Ever heard of Japan? Or LA? San Diego?

Tokyo at night. :eyes:

[scarletwoman]

22. People DO "build up", very rich people who can afford to pay for their roads down the mountain to be

kept plowed. You do understand that this is Alaska, don't you? Annual snowpack in the mountains is measured in 10s of feet, and lasts from late September to June.

You obviously don't know shit about living in Alaska. I do, I used to live there. I drove the highway from Wasilla to Anchorage hundreds of times (I lived farther out from Wasilla, in the small town of Willow), I'm intimately familiar with the terrain and the weather.

sw

[Indenturedebtor]

25. Here you go - like this :D

[Thickasabrick]

13. LOL....the soil is conducive to dingbat crops

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. That was a GOP talking point

Heard it from my GOP senator's staff when I lobbied for this bill. I said I thought letting programs die was worse.

[Indenturedebtor]

12. Even a broken clock is right twice a day...

Take that money and build a bigger center in a population center where it can help more people. We need to be more practical about our environment and our economic resources.

I know that it's very romantic, and some people really enjoy living in this tiny communities in the middle of nowhere, but it's time to face reality imo.

[Optical.Catalyst]

6. With the economy depressed, hard choices had to be made

It came down to Health & Human Services or killing wolves from an airplane.

Caribou Barbie decided it was more important to kill the wolves.

[Vickers]

7. "The clinic...opened in 2006"

Hey, they had a good run.

:sarcasm:

[malaise]

9. Oops I can't wait for her to win KOs

worst person in the world.

[Ocracoker16]

10. Her commitment to special needs kids ended November 4

She never had any interest in special needs children until she realized that she could use Trig to try to make herself look like an ally to the families of special needs children. She made Trig a political prop for the general election. I am not shocked that the clinic is closing without a word of protest from Sarah.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. Irony wouldn't be the word I would have used.

Sad or disgraceful or maybe even criminal would be more apt.

[earth mom]

16. This headline should read: "Palin throws special needs kids to the wolves."

I doubt she will step in to help, the hypocrite she is. :puke:

[ColbertWatcher]

21. Of, "Palin treats special needs kids like wolves" n/t

[earth mom]

24. Exactly-that's more to the point.

:thumbsup:

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. Excellent!

[Solly Mack]

18. Damn

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

20. It's dramatic irony, because I doubt any of the players realize it. nt

[DCKit]

28. Howzat gonna look in 2011 when you're runnin' for Preznit, Sarah?

By disenfranchising the handicapped and disabled NOW, she won't be able to use them as props for her campaign.

What a complete boob she is, youbetcha.