The program's mission is to provide medically supervised childcare to the parent of these special children. So they may have a "respite" from the almost continuous job of taking care of their child. Friday NITE Friends applications are accepted from families with children who have medical and special needs, age birth to 13 years old. Once accepted into the program, the children with medical and special needs may stay in the program until they turn 15 years old. Siblings may stay until their 12th birthday.
Medical Room: Our highest level of care for children birth to 15 years old who are medically fragile and/or require on-going treatment. This would include children with feeding tubes, apnea monitors, severe asthma, immune system dysfunction, etc. This room is staffed by several registered nurses and volunteers. Admission to the program is based on need and each family can utilize the program twice a month.
Special Care Rooms: We serve children with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, etc. Children are separated into five rooms based on age. Each room is staffed by a supervising adult and three or four adult and/or teen volunteers. Special care families can use the program once every four weeks. We currently care for special needs children from birth through age 15.
Sibling Care: We also provide care for the sibling of our special need children. Siblings 7 to 12 years old play in a large recreation room or watch movies or play games in the sibling room. Four to six adult and/or teen volunteers supervise sibling care. Siblings under 7 years old are included in the age appropriate special care room.