MEDIA ADVISORY
The University of Virginia's Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center
(KCRC)
will sponsor a "Happy Birthday KCRC" celebration on Thursday, October 15
from noon to 2:30 p.m.  The celebration, to honor KCRC's 41st birthday,
features a variety of activities for former and current patients and
staff
including music, food, tours, games, jugglers, special animals, a
hot-air
balloon and face painting.  The event is open to the public.
KCRC opened in 1957 as a hospital for local children recovering from
tuberculosis and those who had orthopaedic disabilities such as
congenitally
dislocated hips.  Twenty-one staff members took care of patients in a
30-bed
inpatient unit, where many patients stayed for years at a time.  In
1958,
the Center began holding outpatient clinics in the cafeteria for
children
with cerebral palsy, myelomeningocele, muscular dystrophy and rheumatic
fever.
By 1966, KCRC had a full-time medical director.  Medical students,
residents, and graduate students from rehabilitative services began
coming
there for training. In the early 1970s, the focus of treatment began to
shift to outpatient services in an effort to help patients return to
their
home communities.  A new wing was added in 1971 which provided
additional
space for outpatient clinics.

The 1970s and 1980s brought national recognition of KCRC's unique
approach
to caring for handicapped children and their families.  Programs such as
infant simulation and education, family involvement, and community
awareness
for health care workers became models for hospitals across the country.
Today, the Center has more than 200 staff members who treat children
from
throughout Virginia and beyond who have chronic illnesses, developmental
disorders, psychiatric disorders, behavioral or school problems and
those
who need acute rehabilitation following severe head or spinal cord
injuries.
Last year, more than 15,000 children received treatment at KCRC, and
nearly
400 students were trained there.  KCRC is known throughout the country
as
one of the premiere centers for diagnosis and treatment of attention
deficit
hyperactivity disorder.
"Over the years, diseases have come and gone, but our goal has remained
the
same - to return the child to play, home and school," said Dr. Sharon
Hostler, McLemore Birdsong Professor of Pediatrics and medical director
of
KCRC. "With advances in medicine and technology, we're treating children
today who would have died from their disease or injury ten years ago.
It's
our role to teach these children how to thrive."
###
October 13, 1998
For more information, call Dr. Sharon Hostler at 924-2345 or Lana
Chassman
at 982-1676.