InfinityBy BUSINESS MAGAZINE Dana Earhart, of Dana Earhart Consulting
E R E H S T R A T S N O I T A M R O ANSF
TR Capability Health & Human Services has deep roots in Nevada. The organization was founded in 1976 as a statewide non-profit and has continuously provided healthcare and human services to the most vulnerable Nevadans for forty-four years. All of us, whether due to age, injury, disease, disorders, genetic composition, or even pregnancy, will face a limitation at some point in our lifetime that impacts us intellectually, mentally, physically and/or socially. Whether obvious or invisible, these limitations are commonly and legally referred to as disabilities with the CDC reporting that 1 in 4 Americans have some type of disability. The term disability oftentimes evokes notions of one homogenous population of individuals who are limited in their abilities, but in reality, the causes of the limitations and people impacted are incredibly diverse. While certain limitations are genetic and discovered through prenatal testing or at birth, others are caused by injury, physical or mental trauma, age, and illness, including mental illness, or other diseases and disorders such as developmental speech and language disorders. Capability Health serves patients and clients with unique diagnoses ranging 24
from speech delays, age-related mobility issues, Multiple Sclerosis, visual and hearing impairment, Autism Spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, PTSD and depression. Unfortunately, there is often a gap or lack of continuity in services that are offered to help individuals overcome a limitation, which is why the programs offered by Capability Health are so critical. Over the decades, the organization has significantly expanded its programs ensuring the availability of services that cover the full life span of Nevadans, serving infants who have just been discharged from the NICU through seniors. Today, for example, Capability Health is the largest private sector provider of the multidisciplinary pediatric rehabilitation program known as Early Intervention services which is available to children age birth to 3 who have been diagnosed with a developmental delay, while also offering Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy to children of all ages in two innovative clinics; delivering Assistive Technology consultation and implementation to a significant number of middle-aged women who have been diagnosed with auto-immune disorders; training adults with limitations to secure community-based employment; and
providing skilled nursing services to medically fragile adults and seniors who participate in adult enrichment programs. Healthcare Program Highlight – Early Intervention Services In 2019, Capability Health received approximately 800 referrals to its statewide Early Intervention Program. As the largest private sector provider of the home-based services which include physical, occupational, speech and nutrition/feeding therapy for children and their families, the organization has daily direct experience that substantiates the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of developmental delays in children. Through research on national statistics on developmental disorders, the organization recognizes there are many additional children who should be receiving Early Intervention Services in Nevada. According to the National Institutes of Health, the frequency of speech-sound disorders in young children is 8 to 9 percent with evidence that the first 6 months of a child's life are the most critical to the development of language proficiencies.