Press Release
February 2005
St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children's Pediatric
Feeding Disorders Center
Helping Children, One Meal at a Time
Bayside, NY
St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children, one of the nation's premier
providers of care for children with special needs and life threatening illnesses,
has been working nothing short of miracles for children with feeding disorders.
Through the organization's Pediatric Feeding Disorder Center, kids with a variety
of feeding problems are supported with customized programs that encompass the
services and experience of a comprehensive team of medical professionals. Most
recently, this team which includes a pediatric gastroenterologist, speech pathologist,
occupational therapists, behavioral psychologist, nutritionist, social worker
and nurse practitioner, gained a new Direction in the person of Ramasamy Manikam,
Ph.D., a noted specialist in this area. Following is the story of one special
child helped by St. Mary's unique Pediatric Feeding Disorders Center.
One Child's Special Story
Helping children who cannot eat is the primary goal of St. Mary's Pediatric
Feeding Disorders Center and for one child, the program has been extraordinary.
When Mariah Benkert of Bayside, NY was just one years old, her mother, Donna,
first noticed that she was not eating as a one year-old should. Despite consultations
with experts, Mariah did not improve. When she turned three, she still ate baby
food and hesitated to speak. A social worker put Mariah's family in touch with
the new Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program at St. Mary's. Her mother's words
explain just how important this program is.
“I was immediately impressed with St. Mary's approach to Mariah's problem,”
said Donna. “Not only did they treat her feeding disorder, they also corrected
her speech difficulties. Mariah is now talking at every opportunity and enjoying
food for the first time in her young life. It brought us together as a family
so when we gather for a meal, she eats what we eat. It's miraculous to see how
she has improved because of the excellent program at St. Mary's.”
St. Mary's program provides children with highly personalized treatment by
its team of specialists. Working closely with parents, the team seeks to eliminate
the negative feelings the child has regarding food and replace them with pleasurable
responses to feeding thereby helping the child develop normal eating patterns.
Families, like the Benkerts, learn feeding techniques that they can use at home
with their child through videotaping, observation rooms and intensive training.
The end result is a child like Mariah who now enjoys meal time with her family.
About St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children's Pediatric Feeding
Disorder Center
St. Mary's offers the only inter-disciplinary feeding program in New York State,
with a variety of specialists who are solely dedicated to helping children with
feeding disorders to thrive. These children range in age from birth to 12 years
and have gastrointestinal disorders, oral-motor deficits and behavioral problems.
They present with eating difficulties such as dependence on liquid or pureed foods
or nutritional supplements, poor such, swallow and chew skills, food refusal and
nutritional deficiency. St. Mary's offers its feeding disorder program on an inpatient,
day and homecare basis. Regardless of the setting, patients have access to a wide
range of services including: evaluation, medical management, sensorimotor, oral-motor
and behavioral therapies, etc. There is also caregiver education and training,
development of individualized treatment plans aligned with parents' goals and
minimum of three to four therapeutic meals per day, five days per week for a six
to 12 week period. The goal of St. Mary's feeding disorder program is to achieve
measurable outcomes for its patients. These objectives include: decreased dependence
on nutritional supplements and tube feeding, weight gain and maintenance, increase
in food volume and varieties of foods consumed, oral-motor competency and improved
mealtime behaviors. For more information about St. Mary's Pediatric Feeding Disorders
Center, or to make a referral, contact: Anna Fernandez at: (718) 281-8541 or email:
info@stmaryskids.org
Mariah Benkert and her mother, Donna Benkert.
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