A Place for Pint-Size Patients

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or babies infected with the AIDS virus, the ability to master even the most basic skills, such as walking or talking, is often undermined by neurological disorders and other complications caused by the virus. Not only do such children suffer developmental problems, but they also often suffer because they live in poverty and have mothers who are too ill to care for them.

The myriad programs and services at Incarnation Children’s Center, a foster-care group home in New York, give these young children a fighting chance to live longer and healthier lives.

The center was started in 1989 with support from area hospitals, Catholic Charities, and the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation. More than 700 children have received services that included special nutritional and medical care to speech and social therapy, not to mention play time and plenty of love from staff members and volunteers.

Over the years, the center has expanded its services to meet the children’s changing needs. For example, it offers so-called respite care for infected children who live at home but whose parents have trouble coping with their child’s worsening condition. A short stay at the center will often improve a child’s health, as well as give child-care workers an opportunity to teach parents how to better care for their sick child.

The center’s $3.4-million annual budget is paid through government funds, as well as private contributions. Two years ago, the Friends of ICC, a non-profit group, was created to help raise money for the center.

Here, a patient clasps the finger of a staff member as he receives fluids through a feeding tube.