Operation House Call Still Looking For Participants
AN APPLE A DAY….
By: Donna Breaux
Most of us have heard the old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away". In the case of Operation House Call the last thing we want to do is keep the doctor away!
In October my family and I were lucky enough to participate in the Operation House Call project. We were assigned a pediatric resident to "hang out" with us in our home. The idea was to share our experiences of raising a special needs child with a doctor still in training. From the minute Dr. Roy walked in and met Kayla, her DSP, her sister, me, my husband and the dog she got what we call "Operation Chaos"!
When I invited Dr. Roy to our home, I suggested that she come comfortable because we spend much of our time on the floor with Kayla. We sat and visited for a few hours. We were able to share our experiences from Kayla’s birth through today. We were able to convey to her our despair and the lack of guidance we received from our doctors at Kayla’s birth.
We talked about everything – from how raising a child with special needs affects the whole family to how difficult it can be to just go grocery shopping! We shared some of the things that have worked well in our interactions with the medical community and some that have not worked as well. Dr. Roy seemed truly interested in learning about our family and asked many questions. It was refreshing to visit with a professional from the medical field without feeling "on parade" – we were simply "the Breaux family".
The time flew by and before we knew it Dr. Roy was preparing to leave. As we all have experienced at one time or another, our children never do anything "on command"….. well right as Dr. Roy was telling Kayla "good-bye"….. she had a very significant grand mal seizure! As I looked at the expression on Dr. Roy’s face I realized that she was as scared and disturbed as I am when Kayla has a seizure. In short, in that moment I realized that "doctors are in fact human too"!
Operation House Call is still recruiting families with children with developmental disabilities to participate in this great program. If you are interested, please call Melissa Taylor at Families Helping Families to receive a registration packet. You can reach Melissa at 504-888-9111 or 800-766-7736 or email her at MTaylor@fhfgno.org.
