NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — 2-year-old Adelia Taylor has an angel on the lookout—quite literally. Physical therapist Cindy Angel works with Adelia, who has Down syndrome, to help her overcome her developmental delay.
“It’s great to have Cindy in our home and be able to work with her,” said Stephanie Taylor, Adelia’s mom. “Kind of keep us on track as far as what kind of things we should be working on.”
Cindy is part of the Kentucky Early Intervention System (KEIS), formerly known as the First Steps program.
“I’ve been participating in this program over 20 years, which has been wonderful, and I believe wholeheartedly in the program,” she said.
Therapists from the First Steps programs meet families where they are, in homes and daycares.
“I feel like I can make more a difference, providing the therapy in that natural environment,” said Ellen Strand, a developmental interventionist with KEIS.
“Her therapists really have just been kind of become her family,” Stephanie Taylor said. “They walk in the door and she waves. She’s comfortable with them just like she is anybody in our family.
Recently, more and more therapists have left the KEIS and moved to find work in other states, leaving Kentucky with a shortage of therapists.
Cindy Angel explained, “There’s a lot of many rural counties that do not have therapists at all. I serve in five or six counties, and in five of those I’m the only therapist, the only physical therapist there.”
Part of the problem lies within the reimbursement for travel – or lack of it. In the past two decades, therapists have not received any increases in reimbursement amounts.
“We don’t get reimbursed for mileage, we don’t get reimbursed for travel time, so there are a lot of therapists that just physically don’t have time to get to those kids,” Angel said. “I know a therapist in Lawrenceburg that drives to Indiana twice a week because she can see more kids and make more money and it’s worth her time."
Both Cindy Angel and Ellen Strand hope their appeal can help change the contract for therapists in Kentucky. They believe First Steps is an important program worth fighting for.
“We believe the therapists that are still here seeing first step kids are the ones that aren’t willing to give up on the First Steps program,” Angel said.
Strand added, “I've had families come up to me 10, 15 years after I've worked with their child and say, 'Oh my gosh don't you remember me? You were the first one that taught my daughter to sign 'more.'' Things like that make a big difference to all of us early interventional therapists.”
