Children's Celebrates 14th Endowed Chair
from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, February 2006
The Children’s Hospital recently celebrated its newest endowed chair: the Children’s Miracle Network/Helppie Family Chair in orthopedic Movement Analysis. Frank Chang, MD, director of the Department of orthopedics and medical director of the Center for Gait and Movement Analysis, is the inaugural chairholder.
The establishment of the chair is historic, as it is the first and only endowed chair in the country in orthopedic movement analysis. It is also the only endowed chair in the country funded from dollars raised through Children’s Miracle Network. Moreover, it marks a milestone for the hospital as the 14th endowed chair for the institution. Children’s first endowed chair was established in 1997, and eight of the 14 have been established since the start of The Imagine the Miracles Campaign for The Children’s Hospital in October 2001.
Richard and Leslie Helppie, parents of a former Children’s patient, and the Children’s Miracle Network jointly established the chair with gifts totaling $2 million.
Donors and representatives from The Children’s Hospital gathered in Tammen Hall in late 2005 to celebrate.
Dori Biester, PhD, RN, Children’s president and CEO, introduced Dr. Chang by saying, “I can’t think of anyone who can do a better job of relating to children.”
In 1999, Dr. Chang, Dr. Jim Carollo and Children’s opened the Center for Gait and Movement Analysis (CGMA) to treat patients with gait and motion abnormalities — primarily children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, limb deficiencies, amputations and congenital and genetic abnormalities.
“Sixteen years ago I had a dream,” Dr. Chang said. “We are well underway with our research program, and recently evaluated our 1,000th patient. With the help of The Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Research Institute and generous donors, we’ve been able to fund this exciting research to examine existing treatments and ways to improve patient outcomes, enabling researchers to evaluate, design and develop new orthopedic treatments using data gathered about a patient’s gait at the CGMA.”
Richard Helppie told the story of how his family chose to bring their daughter Amanda to Children’s even though they live in Michigan .
Amanda, who has cerebral palsy, was evaluated at the CGMA when she was 19. She had surgery and then underwent rehabilitation — all at The Children’s Hospital.
“Today, my daughter Amanda is finishing her student teaching,” Helppie said. “She is graduating with honors. She’s driving. She’s standing. She’s walking. We appreciate all you have done.
“We are very excited about your future. What you’ve done here is truly extraordinary with extraordinary people.”
Donors Leslie and Richard Helppie help Dr. Chang celebrate his position as chairholder of the Children’s Miracle Network/Helppie Family Endowed Chair in Orthopedic Movement Analysis.
