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Safer at Home

22-month-old Mary Kate Webb receives most of her nutrition from a feeding tube in her stomach, but she’d been close to learning how to eat by mouth when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Memphis area.

“I feel like we’ve worked on so much,” said mom Meredith Webb. “She’s continuing to progress, and it would be hard for me to know what to do next.”

She didn’t have to.

Le Bonheur therapists quickly developed telehealth sessions for Mary Kate’s physical and speech therapy – and were able to cater her services so that she could still receive them at home.

Mary Kate has Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome and suffers developmental delays from her diagnosis. She has been working with therapists since she was just a few months old, and missing therapy appointments puts her at risk for
falling behind.

“I wasn’t sure how it would go at first,” Meredith said of the therapy. “Initially, she was a little bit confused. Now, she gets it and I see a lot of value in it.”

Donor support allowed Le Bonheur clinicians to quickly expand telehealth services within days of the first reports of COVID-19 in Tennessee, ensuring that children didn’t miss important doctors visits or clinic appointments.

Today, children like Mary Kate who rely on services still have continuity of care in the safest possible environment.