Nestled between Heroes Stadium and Toyota Field on San Antonio’s Northeast Side, the enchilada red Children’s Rehabilitation Institute TeletónUSA (CRIT) has been providing comprehensive, family-centered care for children with neurological, muscular and skeletal disabilities for 10 years.
On Thursday, CRIT celebrated the more than 212,000 outpatient services its staff and volunteers have provided to children from across the U.S. over the past decade. The facility has supported more than 1,800 families with personalized care and rehabilitation.
Denilson “Deni” Alvarado, the local CRIT’s first patient, attended the community gathering and gave an emotional speech during the celebration, thanking the staff and his parents for believing in him. He was born prematurely, suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.
Alvarado now lives independently and works at the Frost Bank Center, said Federica Soriano, CRIT’s CEO.
One of the many advantages of CRIT’s outpatient care compared to in-home therapy is the community that they have built here for people with disabilities, Soriano said.
“Having everybody cheering for you and seeing other kids that have the same challenges that you have — and they’re progressing — that gives you hope,” she said. “Your dreams are also possible.”
CRIT’s model of care works on four pillars, Soriano said: “The physical, the psychological, the social and the spiritual. When you have all these pillars working in conjunction, and you have all the team under the same roof working together, then that’s when your magic starts to happen.”
The $15 million, 45,000-square-foot facility is located near Morgan’s Wonderland and Monarch Academy, offering children with disabilities recreation and education, respectively.
CRIT uses a pay-what-you-can model, supported by donations, grants and volunteers. It provides therapies for a wide range of conditions, including cerebral palsy, brain injury, neuromuscular diseases, spinal cord injuries, skeletal disorders and congenital and genetic diseases.
Rehabilitation can take weeks, months or years depending on their condition, Soriano said.
The facility serves 350 families each year, and there are typically 600 families on the waitlist, she said. “Everybody says, I don’t know what that colorful building is — so imagine if people knew we were here. That waiting list would be bigger.”
Teletón started in 1997 in Mexico as a fundraiser for Centers of Children’s Rehabilitation-Teletón. It was modeled after the late actor Jerry Lewis’ Labor Day Telethon that raised money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Teletón’s 26-hour broadcasts packed with celebrities became popular in Mexico. The nonprofit now has about 25 health care facilities for children with neuromusculoskeletal disabilities in Mexico. The center in San Antonio was the TeletónUSA branch’s first and, so far, only location in the U.S.
Soriano hopes CRIT can expand its operations in San Antonio or to other U.S. cities.
“If Mexico can have 25 different rehabilitation centers, then we should have more than 50 because there’s more resources here in the States and the need is the same,” she said.
CRIT offers free community tours every last Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m. and accepts donations year-round, she noted.