The Amazin’ Mets Foundation awarded St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children with a $75,000 grant to help fund eye devices for children in the hospital’s Early Education Program.
This grant will help the medically complex, nonverbal kids in the program communicate better through eye movement. Eye gaze technology allows a person to use the movements of their eyes to control a computer or communication device.
Of the $75,000 grant, $59,000 will go towards three whole eye gaze systems, including eye gaze devices, eye gaze tablets, wheelchair mounts, and floor mounts. The other $16,000 will be used to purchase eight tablets, along with educational software for each of them.
“St. Mary’s has seen some incredible success stories with patients using our medical eye gaze devices, which is a testament to the dedication of our incredible staff and their ability to use technological advancements to change the lives of medically complex kids,” St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children President and CEO Dr. Edwin Simpser said. “We are so grateful to the Amazin’ Mets Foundation for this generous grant for new eye gaze devices, which will bring hope and healing for families who may have never been able to communicate with their child before.”
The use of eye gaze is a form of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) therapy, which helps kids communicate in non-traditional ways, which also includes making gestures and facial expressions and pointing to photos, pictures or written words. While these children in the Early Education Program do have the cognitive function to be able to communicate, they are unable to verbalize what they are thinking due to their medical conditions, which can lead them to feel helpless and suffer from depression.
This grant will help St. Mary’s to provide these patients with a greater supply of high tech therapy through the tablets, which use infrared devices to track eye movement, allowing a child to better communicate without speech or physical gestures.
As the only center for pediatric long-term and rehabilitative care in New York City, St. Mary’s has been serving New York’s children for over 150 years. Located at 29-01 216th St. in Bayside, St. Mary’s provides a continuum of care to children with medically complex conditions through its in-patient hospital facility, as well as through home care services and community programs.
