Fitzgeralds Launch Challenge Fund to Support the Center for Exceptional Families

For years, Janice and Gerald Fitzgerald have been avid supporters of Beaumont’s Center for Exceptional Families (CEF), supporting countless special needs children as they learn how to negotiate the realities of living with differing abilities and strive to pursue their own dreams and aspirations.

The Fitzgeralds have expanded on their longstanding commitment to this life-changing center even further by establishing the Jan and Jerry Fitzgerald Challenge to inspire others to join them in supporting the operational needs of the CEF. The challenge got off to a strong start with a generous gift from the Donald and Mary Kosch Foundation. The Beaumont Fund is going to match those gifts and any new gift or pledge that is made to the CEF up to $100,000 until the end of 2022 as a response to the challenge.

“So many of the children we treat at this center are experiencing complex and inter-related conditions,” said Dr. Susan Youngs, CEF medical director. “This kind of philanthropic support is what allows us to provide the depth of service that makes our program so powerfully effective.”

Since its beginning in 1998, CEF has been offering one-of-a-kind, comprehensive pediatric medicine, rehabilitation, recreational and social support for children with special needs such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, genetic syndromes or conditions related to illness, accidents or traumatic birth.

In 2017, in response to a growing national trend of increased autism spectrum disorder diagnoses, Beaumont Health added a new Autism Center on the CEF campus that consolidated and expanded CEF’s care and treatment of patients with this condition.

The CEF addresses all medical needs for these children, including:

• treatment for condition-related emotional issues

• nutrition assessments and management

• me dication management

• physical, occupational and speech-language therapy

• social skills

• inclusive play groups

Parent and sibling education and extensive support for the whole family are also part of this individualized wrap-around care.

One of CEF’s central tenets is that care is never rushed. At physician appointments, families can ask questions and receive detailed, in-depth answers. Family schedules are accommodated when appointments are arranged, and evaluations and therapies are conducted as medical needs — not costs — dictate.

Because this is a more expensive model of care, philanthropic support has been an important component since the center’s inception.

“The Jan and Jerry Fitzgerald Challenge is helping ensure that the attributes that make CEF so special not only will continue, but will thrive and grow,” said Margaret Cooney Casey, president, Beaumont Health Foundation. “The support of the Fitzgeralds, Kosches and everyone who participates in this challenge will change many lives, and we are so grateful.”