Monday, July 21, 2008

CVS Caremark Trust awards Easter Seals North Texas $30,000 grant to support local autism services

By Pegasus News wire

FORT WORTH — Easter Seals North Texas has received a $30,000 grant from the CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ Fund to help fund Easter Seals’ efforts to provide occupational, physical, and speech-language therapies for children who have autism and other disabilities and special needs and are uninsured, underinsured or Medicaid-lapsed clients.

The $30,000 gift will provide for approximately 350 therapy sessions, which allow 15 children to receive therapeutic interventions twice a week for three months at Easter Seals North Texas’ Trinity Center and Oak Cliff office. The grant is one of 10, totaling $350,000, which the Trust awarded to support autism services at Easter Seals affiliate locations nationwide.

The CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ Fund is a corporate-level fund. A committee of area CVS Caremark associates reviewed the grant requests and made the local funding recommendation.

Children living with autism and other disabilities throughout north Texas have come to rely on Easter Seals North Texas for the services and support to help them live, learn, play and succeed in their community.

Easter Seals was selected as a CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ national partner when the program was introduced in 2006. CVS Caremark and its private foundation have since contributed more than $4.3 million to Easter Seals nationwide, including more than $1 million in CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ Fund gifts, $1.5 million in Easter Seals national Walk With Me sponsorships and $1 million in Walk with Me local contributions from CVS Caremark employees.

“CVS Caremark has been a critical Easter Seals partner for more than a decade. The CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ Program represents Corporate Social Responsibility at its best,” said Monica Prather, North Texas Easter Seals CEO. “We applaud CVS Caremark for its commitment to children with disabilities and remain grateful for the impact we are able to make in the lives of these children through CVS Caremark’s support.”

Critical Need for Autism Services

During the last 20 years, Easter Seals has seen a dramatic increase in the number of children and adults with autism. Today, as many as one in every 150 children is diagnosed with autism - that’s a new diagnosis every 20 minutes – making autism more prevalent than Down syndrome, childhood diabetes and childhood cancer combined.

While autism is a baffling, lifelong disability, it is treatable. Every family living with a person who has autism faces unique challenges. Early detection and intervention are the essential first steps.

“There is an urgent need for increased funding and services,” Prather said. “We want to help make a difference for families living with autism today.”

“CVS Caremark is committed to making a positive impact in the lives of children with disabilities through the All Kids Can Program,” said Eileen Howard Dunn, senior vice president, Corporate Communications and Community Relations, CVS Caremark. “We are proud to support Easter Seals in advancing outcomes-based treatments and interventions for children with autism, and by encouraging our associates to volunteer and make a difference in the communities where we live and work.”

Area CVS employees are committed to Walk With Me. They support the event by raising funds through building associate Walk teams and holding store fundraisers.

About Easter Seals North Texas

Easter Seals North Texas annually serves more than 10,000 clients in 34 counties. Easter Seals is the leading non-profit provider of services for individuals with autism, developmental disabilities, physical disabilities and other special needs. Through therapy, training, education and support services, Easter Seals creates life-changing solutions so that people with disabilities can live, learn, work and play in their communities. For more information, go to www.ntx.easterseals.com or http://autism.easterseals.com.

Source: Easter Seals North Texas

See more stories in:

• Health Care
• Health Care > Health Insurance
• Health and Fitness