Shriners Hospitals for Children - Tampa
Volume 1, Issue 4 - Fall-Winter 1998-1999No Limit of Fun
During No Limits Sports Day CLINIC
by Claire Keneally, MA, AHIP Director of Medical Library and
Toni Thompson, OT Rehabilitation Department
On Friday, June 26, the No Limits Sports Day Clinic challenged over 100 children with new opportunities in sports. Shriners Hospital hosted variety of paralympic athletes and instructors that provided the children the chance to rotate through six hands-on sports stations.
Paralympic track medallists Dennis Qehler and Todd Schaffhauser, sponsored the National Board for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics and the Orthotics and Prosthetics Athletic Fund, offered motivation and instruction in track and field skills.
Paralympic medallists Ronnie Richardson, Doyle Mann, and champion water skiers Billy Sutherland, Eddie Rogowski and Dennis Dugan headed up a rousing opportunity to learn and practice the techniques of wheelchair basketball and regular basketball. O&P staff Danny Griner, Eddie Rogowski and Bryan Sinnott assisted with suggestions on lay-ups and foul shots.
The budding athletes participated in adapted tennis skills and drills under the guidance of Sheila and Shirley Bolin from Tennis with a Different Swing. Steve Perry, from the Martial Arts Academy and Jason Barrone from the American Academy of Martial Arts involved the children in basic karate concepts, moves & skills.
The participants enjoyed adapted golf enthusiastically taught by Shriners Hospital therapists Pam Versage, and Ann Tobin. Assisting them was Sandy Smith, who provided experience from her recent hole-in-one. Renee O'Neal, Childlife Therapist, instructed the eager learners at the volleyball station. Egypt Temple clowns worked the audience and two Tampa Yankees signed autographs and handed out team pictures. Parents, participants, volunteers and staff delighted in a scrumptious picnic Bar-B-Q provided by Nutritional Services.
The Sports Day Committee thanks volunteers, staff and sponsors and participants for making this a day with NO LIMITS on fun, learning and happy memories.
Ron Gingras,
Orthotics and Prosthetics
Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot.
Right now is the time his bones are being formed,
his blood is being made and his sense is being developed
To him, we cannot answer "Tomorrow." "His name is "Today."
Ron Gingras, the director of Orthotics and Prosthetics at Shriners Hospital can easily relate to this poem hanging above his desk. Gingras developed polio when he was four years old and learned firsthand about the quality medical care offered at Shriners Hospital.
Fondly remembered as his "home away from home," Gingras had several surgical procedures performed on his right leg. Because of the exceptional care he received as a child, today he is able to help and encourage children whose needs cannot wait.
As a young adult, Gingras was drawn back to Shriners Hospital where he began volunteering in the Orthotics and Prosthetics Department at the Springfield Hospital. He knew that he had found his life's work after he began working as a technician. "I wanted to work there because I enjoyed it and felt great satisfaction in being able to work with children. As I still do today, I looked forward to going to work every morning," said Gingras.
Eager to receive formal training in the Orthotics and Prosthetics field, Gingras attended Delgado College in New Orleans and Northwestern University in Chicago in order to become a Certified Orthotist Prosthetist. While pursuing his education, Gingras returned to the Springfield Shriners Hospital at regular intervals to complete his required internships toward certification. Soon after completing his certification, he became the Assistant Director of the Springfield Hospital's Orthotics and Prosthetics Department.
Gingras was drawn to the opportunity of establishing and directing a new Orthotics and Prosthetics Department when the Tampa Hospital was established in 1984. Under his leadership, the Tampa Hospital Orthotics and Prosthetics Department has grown to become the largest in the Shriners Hospital system, delivering 6,177 new orthoses and 280 new prostheses in 1997 while handling over 8,300 patient visits annually. He credits these accomplishments to the 21 exceptionally dedicated employees in his department. "Our productivity is the result of many people all working together. The results of our creations can be seen quickly. It pays off at the end of each work week when we see a child lift a fork with a new hand or when a child kicks a soccer ball with a leg made stronger because of our efforts," said Gingras.
In addition to his commitment to the children, Ron Gingras has demonstrated his commitment to his profession by being instrumental in the development of legislation to regulate the profession. He was awarded the first license issued by the State of Florida on April 2, 1998.
However, the greatest benefits of his job, he says, are the "expressions of joy on the children's faces." Gingras knows how important it is for each child to feel good about themselves. He hopes that through him the children will see that their futures are not limited by their disabilities.
