Benefits and Use of Donations
Disney Trip
PURPOSE
Each year the Massachusetts Hospital School Class Trip takes on almost as many purposes as the number of children being discharged. The following is a sample of the reason staff and children feel the purpose of the class trip is:
- The class trip is a last time to spend with classmates, or better yet, friends who will be discharged from MHS and going their separate ways.
- It is an opportunity to venture beyond the boundaries of Massachusetts Hospital School and experience a different lifestyle.
- It is an opportunity to utilize independent living skills learned during their education experience at MHS.
- The trip allows for a once in a lifetime experience that will be virtually, for most children, impossible after discharge.
- It's a fitting way to congratulate each child and leave them with a lasting memory of their time at MHS.
- The trip allows the staff an opportunity to evaluate how well we have prepared our children in independent living skills.
PAST TRIPS
The Class of 2010 marks the 24nd year of class trips to Disney World. Over the years we have sent over 355 children to stay at Disney World for 7 days. Each child was assigned a personal care chaperone from staff members who were requested by the students. The staff commits to the physical and emotional care of the child and to ensure they are getting the maximum enjoyment out of each day, as this type of trip may never be possible again.
FUND RAISING
The class trip cost approximately $4,300.00 for each child with its chaperone. This covers airfare, hotel for six nights, food, a six-day Disney pass, hospital equipment and wheelchair transportation. For this year's trip, we asked each child to raise $300.00 on their own, in addition to having 30 full and partial sponsors that helped raise the $71,000.00 needed for this year's trip. Many of our sponsors have been helping out for the twenty-four years we have be having the Class trips.
PLANNING THE TRIP OF A LIFE TIME
The planning for this year's class trip began in December of 2008, with the request to the school and our case managers for the list of children who will be graduating or discharged in 2010. Each of the children was enrolled in two recreation programs that prepared them for the trip.
The first program is Leisure Education, which meets once a week and begins by developing knowledge of what is leisure? What do they like to do during their leisure time at home or in their community? This program continues for the next nine months to build the skills in money and time management, peer interaction, and understanding people with different disabilities. The students finish in November with the completion of a schedule for their class trip that includes dinner reservations, Disney wheelchair transportation and park and ride schedules.
The most important step of the total process is developing the skills to select a personal care assistant (PCA) for both living in the community and the trip to Disney. These skills are essential to success in work and daily living. By the time we return from Disney many of these skills have been put to a test, and we will have a better idea of any additional training that will be needed before graduation.
Our Community Recreation program is devoted to developing skills in wheelchair mobility, accessing activities within the community, money and time management, directing personal care, and knowledge of leisure opportunities available to them in the community.
Trips are usually scheduled every other week, and include trips to the movies, mall, sporting events, the Big Apple Circus and a Broadway play. We wrap up with a luncheon cruise on the Spirit of Boston with their selected staff for the class trip to Disney World.
WHAT MAKES THE TRIP A SUCCESS
People make the trip so successful! The children with their skills learned in class and on community trips, and the staff who give their heart and dedication to our kids. It is easy to say to a staff person, "What a great job", as we return from Disney. What people need to know is volunteering to go to Disney means seven eighteen-hour days, up at 6:00AM and if you are lucky your head may hit the pillow by midnight. Giving every waking minute to making this trip one our kids will never forget. There is never a way to thank the staff enough for their efforts.
Because of our preparation and training, we are able to transfer each child on just about every ride in Disney World. The amount of lifting during a normal day is unbelievable. The staff needs to be in the best physical shape of their life. We always say, "this is a class trip not a vacation, and we can sleep when we get home".
We are lucky to get some special help from many sources outside of MHS, beginning with a travel agent. He is knowledgeable of the physical needs of our kids and is willing to work with the hotel, airlines and wheelchair transportation to assure that all details are covered. Delta Airlines has gone out of their way to meet our needs, but more importantly, meet the new security guidelines.
Because our electric wheelchairs sometimes weigh over 200lbs, getting them to Disney requires us to send them down the night before the trip with a couple of staff. All chairs are wrapped in shrink-wrap at the airport, before the flight. We will also send additional medical supplies and shower chairs that bring the total of boxes and chairs to over 40 pieces, and all of this at no additional cost. Delta, then supplies the staff with a room near the arriving gate so the electric chairs can be charged over night and will be ready when the kids arrive in the morning.
This year the amount of wheelchair transportation needed to get 16 kids from the airport to the hotel had to be split between two companies; one company could not handle that many chairs at one time.
DISNEY COMPLETES OUR MISSION
Many people believe Disney is just this large corporation that thinks only of the bottom line. Over our twenty-two years of bringing children to Disney World we have found them to go out of their way to make our trips success in several ways. The first is by offering us a 35 iscount on our park tickets that saves us about $100 per person. The next amazing thing the staff at the Boardwalk Resort does is close down our accessible rooms the day before we arrive. Arrangements are made to replace conventional beds with hospital beds for the comfort of our kids. Disney loses a days rent on each of the rooms we reserve. In the big picture not a lot of money, but they do it to make a difference to our kids.
The most important assistance that Disney gives us is wheelchair transportation around Disney World. There is no way our kids would be able to see all of Disney World using the normal Disney bus system. We coordinate our schedule with Transportation Center before we arrive. This gesture makes a world of difference to the success of the trip for our children.
"Success is seen in the eyes and faces of our kids". The class of 2009, staff, sponsors and our Board of Trustees can be proud of what we will accomplish during this year's trip. It can't be measured in the cost of the trip, but certainly shows in the new challenges the kids take on. Our staff will increase their professional awareness of not only the needs of the children they care for during this trip, but the ones they will return to train for future classes.
At the end of each trip I always wish I could share the experience with every staff and family. Each child and staff member comes home a better and richer person, and if you ask them how your trip was, you do not need to hear a word, because you can see it in their eye and on their faces. It is truly a trip of a lifetime and one that none of us will ever forget.
The JB Cafe
The JB Cafe is a brand-new, state of the art program that will allow children of Massachusetts Hospital School to surf the Internet, use computers, e-mail and enjoy computer games like most children do in their own homes. This new facility would not have been possible without the generous donations made at last year’s MHS Centennial Gala. The generosity shown by Gala guests was instrumental to the success of the JB Cafe which has been an instant hit among the children and something they all deserve.
This is the first time computer equipment and the Internet has been available to patients on our campus. With a 60” high-definition television, nine computer terminals and four portable play stations, the children can now participate in group computer tournaments and incorporate computer games into their physical therapy routines. As part of the JB Cafe, Massachusetts Hospital School children have a high-tech computer station with wireless internet and blue-ray disc DVD players to watch their favorite movies in high definition. All equipment is set up for easy access for the students, most of who are in wheelchairs.
