Learn About Central Florida’s Best-Kept Secret for Special Needs Kids

Ten years ago, Illinois doctors gave Ray Migala the stunning and sobering news: His sweet and playful 8-year-old daughter, Amy, had a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy. The odds of acquiring this specific disorder are one in 10 million. Unbeknownst to Ray, he had genetically passed on the trait to his daughter. By age 12, Amy was unable to walk and was confined to a wheelchair. The debilitating disease was heartbreaking for a child once so full of excitement and energy.

The Migala family decided to move to the Sunshine State because they were advised that the frigid Illinois winters could be a death sentence for Amy. Upon arriving in Florida, Ray discovered Children’s Medical Services (CMS), a program offered by the State Department of Health, that provides children with special health care needs with a family-centered, managed system of care. “CMS has been the greatest thing in our lives for nearly nine years,” says Ray Migala, who often refers to his daughter as the healer of the world. “They’ve helped us cope with Amy’s needs in so many different ways here in Orlando, including schooling and transportation issues. More than any other organization in the state, for us, CMS is number one.”

To be eligible for CMS services, children must qualify financially, and have serious chronic, physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions that need care beyond that required by healthy children. There are 22 regional CMS office locations throughout the state that provide everything from surgeries, prescriptions, and x-rays to medical equipment, therapy, and primary care.

“I love CMS,” declares Amy, a philanthropic-minded 18 year old who helped raise more than $750,000 in the Orlando area for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon last autumn, after appearing on the telethon during a live-interview segment. “The people are great, I don’t know how else to explain it.”

The “people” Amy refers to are those working within the CMS Medical Home model of care, in which each patient is assigned to a primary care provider who champions the care for that particular child. In addition, each child is assigned a social worker and nurse care coordinator. The parent or guardian of a child with special health care needs is considered the most important member of the child’s health care team. Support is always available from a CMS network care coordinator, whether assistance is needed with transportation, interpretation of what your child’s primary care doctor or specialist has said, or any other aspect involving the child’s care. It’s a holistic approach to patient care that focuses on providing the highest quality of healthcare for each patient.

Social worker, Marilyn Jones, has worked with the Migala family since Amy came to CMS. “When you work with CMS patients, you become family,” says Jones. “We work diligently to address the child’s healthcare needs, while also celebrating their many achievements. Amy has made incredible strides transitioning from a young girl to a young woman.”

The Migala family is just one of many Central Florida families with special needs children that have benefited from the CMS program.

“I just love [noted psychiatrist] Noshphitz’s quote: ‘Society will succeed or fail in direct proportion to the way it enhances or impedes the development of its children’,” comments CMS’ Regional Nursing Director Barbara Ray. “At CMS we incorporate that sentiment through our work with special needs children.”

Responsible for the care of more than 6,000 children, the Orlando CMS office partners with its sister office in Viera, to provide care for more than 10,000 kids, and works with more than 1,100 medical providers to meet the ever expanding needs of special needs children.

“CMS is perhaps one of the best-kept secrets in Florida state government,” says Rob Bridger, a 30-plus year state government employee and Regional Program Administrator for CMS Orlando.  “This network of private sector, CMS-credentialed primary care and pediatric sub-specialty physicians operates  collaboratively with state-employed nurse care coordinators and social workers to provide a ‘Medical Home’ for children with special needs.  This private and public sector partnership provides a cost-effective model for delivery of quality medical and health care services, and enables CMS to fulfill its mission of championing excellence in health care.”

Central Florida’s special needs children are indeed fortunate to have a highly skilled team of doctors, medical providers, social workers, and medical professionals available to deliver the best health care possible. For further information about the CMS program and its services, please visit cms-kids.com, or contact the local Orlando CMS office at 407.856.6519, or toll free at 1.800.226.6530.