11-18-2004, 12:27 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/stor...4490c.html
BY OREN YANIV
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
With autism rising to nearly epidemic levels, a center that supports autistic patients and their families recently expanded to Jamaica, Queens.
"Autism is growing every day and we want to be here to help the children and their parents," said Yolanda Vitulli, executive director of Tender Care Human Services Inc.
Her not-for-profit organization had been operating since 2001 from a small office in Bellerose. The new center, in the second floor of the Multi-Service Center, at 114-02 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., is aimed at residents of Jamaica and vicinity.
Tender Care presently caters to about 65 patients - most of them children - with services covered by Medicaid. It offers referrals to schools and after-school programs, housing and entitlement assistance, in-home visits and rehabilitation.
"We expanded because we're hoping to further develop the program," Vitulli said. "This area is in great need for services."
Vitulli is a registered nurse who worked for Elmhurst Hospital Center, which is now affiliated with the center. Her 15-year-old son, Michael, was diagnosed with autism as a toddler when he did not start talking.
"It was a shock to me," she recalled. "It was very, very hard because 12 years ago, autism wasn't spoken about as it is now. You had to go to different places and nobody would give you an exact answer."
Those travails drove her to provide assistance to parents in similar situations.
Jean Passarette, an assistant with the center, is also the mother of an autistic boy, Rocco, 15. "It helps the parents to have another parent with a similar experience to speak with," she said.
The causes of autism remain unknown but the spread of the disease has skyrocketed in recent years. While one in 10,000 was diagnosed in 1990, current numbers are around one in 250, some studies show.
Vitulli said the organization plans to grow as long as the demand persists and she hopes to introduce music therapy, which had done wonders for her son. In the meantime, the center is seeking volunteers and donations, she said.
Originally published on November 8, 2004
BY OREN YANIV
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
With autism rising to nearly epidemic levels, a center that supports autistic patients and their families recently expanded to Jamaica, Queens.
"Autism is growing every day and we want to be here to help the children and their parents," said Yolanda Vitulli, executive director of Tender Care Human Services Inc.
Her not-for-profit organization had been operating since 2001 from a small office in Bellerose. The new center, in the second floor of the Multi-Service Center, at 114-02 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., is aimed at residents of Jamaica and vicinity.
Tender Care presently caters to about 65 patients - most of them children - with services covered by Medicaid. It offers referrals to schools and after-school programs, housing and entitlement assistance, in-home visits and rehabilitation.
"We expanded because we're hoping to further develop the program," Vitulli said. "This area is in great need for services."
Vitulli is a registered nurse who worked for Elmhurst Hospital Center, which is now affiliated with the center. Her 15-year-old son, Michael, was diagnosed with autism as a toddler when he did not start talking.
"It was a shock to me," she recalled. "It was very, very hard because 12 years ago, autism wasn't spoken about as it is now. You had to go to different places and nobody would give you an exact answer."
Those travails drove her to provide assistance to parents in similar situations.
Jean Passarette, an assistant with the center, is also the mother of an autistic boy, Rocco, 15. "It helps the parents to have another parent with a similar experience to speak with," she said.
The causes of autism remain unknown but the spread of the disease has skyrocketed in recent years. While one in 10,000 was diagnosed in 1990, current numbers are around one in 250, some studies show.
Vitulli said the organization plans to grow as long as the demand persists and she hopes to introduce music therapy, which had done wonders for her son. In the meantime, the center is seeking volunteers and donations, she said.
Originally published on November 8, 2004