PRINTER'S NO. 2631
No. 417 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY PISTELLA, DeWEESE, FRANKEL, BALDWIN, BENNINGHOFF,
BOYD, CALTAGIRONE, CLYMER, COHEN, CORRIGAN, CRAHALLA, CRUZ,
DERMODY, ELLIS, FAIRCHILD, FLEAGLE, FORCIER, GEIST, GEORGE,
GILLESPIE, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARHAI, HENNESSEY,
HERMAN, HERSHEY, HESS, JAMES, KOTIK, LEDERER, MANN, McGILL,
MUNDY, MUSTIO, O'NEILL, PALLONE, PAYNE, PETRONE, RAMALEY,
READSHAW, ROSS, RUBLEY, SAINATO, SANTONI, SCHRODER, SIPTROTH,
SHANER, STABACK, E. Z. TAYLOR, TIGUE, WALKO, WHEATLEY,
WOJNAROSKI, YOUNGBLOOD, DIVEN AND FABRIZIO, AUGUST 24, 2005
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
AUGUST 24, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Extending congratulations to The Children's Home of Pittsburgh
2 on its over 100 years of service to the community and
3 recognizing the unique services it provides to enhance the
4 health and well-being of infants and children throughout
5 southwestern Pennsylvania.
6 WHEREAS, The Children's Home of Pittsburgh, established in
7 1893, is an independent, nonprofit licensed organization whose
8 purpose is to promote the health and well-being of infants and
9 children through services which establish and strengthen the
10 family; and
11 WHEREAS, The health and welfare of all our children is a
12 prime concern; and
13 WHEREAS, The Children's Home of Pittsburgh fulfills a gap in
14 pediatric services in the community by providing cost-effective
15 and high quality subacute pediatric services; and
1 WHEREAS, The Children's Home of Pittsburgh has provided
2 unique and valuable services to infants and children through an
3 adoption program, the Transitional Infant Care Hospital and
4 Child's Way; and
5 WHEREAS, The adoption program provides the most comprehensive
6 professional counseling services of any private agency in
7 southwestern Pennsylvania, placing more than 10,000 infants and
8 children in loving homes; and
9 WHEREAS, The adoption program has three licenses from the
10 Department of Public Welfare to provide birth parent counseling,
11 adoptive parent support and placement of infants with loving
12 families; and
13 WHEREAS, The adoption program is expanding to provide
14 additional counseling services to adopted teenagers, infertility
15 counseling and other support groups; and
16 WHEREAS, The Transitional Infant Care Hospital, the only
17 freestanding hospital of its kind in the United States, is an
18 11-bed licensed pediatric hospital providing services to
19 premature and high-risk infants and families who have been
20 referred from area hospitals and providing health care services
21 in a homelike environment with living facilities for families,
22 including the second Austin Lemieux sibling playroom; and
23 WHEREAS, The Transitional Infant Care Hospital, which was
24 established in 1984, has served more than 2,500 families; and
25 WHEREAS, Child's Way, the first pediatric extended care
26 center in this Commonwealth, offers daytime services for
27 medically fragile children and respite for their parents,
28 providing the only alternative to home health care; and
29 WHEREAS, Child's Way is recognized for helping to alleviate
30 the demand for specialized pediatric home care nurses; and
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1 WHEREAS, At Child's Way, children receive therapies, nursing
2 services, nutritional therapy and other medical procedures while
3 their parents may return to work or school; and
4 WHEREAS, Child's Way, since opening in 1998, has served more
5 than 150 families, and 40% of the children have been
6 mainstreamed to other programs; and
7 WHEREAS, The Children's Home of Pittsburgh, in order to have
8 sufficient space to meet the increasing demand for its unique
9 services, has embarked upon a $20 million building project, to
10 be located at 5324 Penn Avenue in the blighted area of Garfield,
11 Pennsylvania, spurring economic growth in an otherwise depressed
12 area; and
13 WHEREAS, This project will create 50 additional jobs, result
14 in tax revenue for State and local governments, add two existing
15 properties to the tax rolls and save millions of dollars for the
16 Medicaid program through the delivery of subacute pediatric care
17 services; and
18 WHEREAS, The staff of The Children's Home of Pittsburgh is
19 compassionate and provides vital social welfare services and
20 subacute health care programs with a focus on including families
21 in all decisions which may affect their children, which programs
22 do not replicate any current services in southwestern
23 Pennsylvania and fulfill a unique niche in the continuum of
24 care; therefore be it
25 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives extend
26 congratulations to The Children's Home of Pittsburgh on its over
27 100 years of service to the community and recognize the unique
28 services it provides to enhance the health and well-being of
29 infants and children throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.
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