Holiday friendship

Friends of Matheny volunteers at the Holiday Boutique. Vena Glenn, Jean Wadsworth, Janet Allocco, Helen Fallone, Dorothy Carter, Angie Erickson, Cathy Wild, Lisa Lee and Edana Desatnick.

If you walk through the halls of Matheny during the holiday season, you will see the door of each bedroom decorated with wreaths placed there by The Friends of Matheny, our auxiliary group that does so much to help us improve the lives of our students and patients.

And, in addition to all the gifts The Friends gives to Matheny, its members also make sure Matheny’s students and patients can find good, inexpensive holiday gifts to give to their family members. Every year, The Friends set up a Holiday Boutique, stocked with items from their Second Chance thrift shop. For very reasonable prices, Matheny students and patients can purchase gifts and have them wrapped. This year’s Holiday Boutique was held on December 10, and, as usual, it was a huge success.

The Friends of Matheny is an organization dedicated to providing support to Matheny. Since its inception in 1983, the group has raised more than $3 million to sustain Matheny’s programs and services.

Adult patient Dion Alston was assisted with his shopping by Alicia Zurlo, left, and Debra Ross.

FiOS 1 NJ reports on Matheny’s indirect access communications program.

Reporter Matt Brody interviews speech-language pathologist Christine Mayercik and Matheny School acting principal Sean Murphy. Student Lee Lubin demonstrates how the system works.

Choir members India Jones, left, and Bianca Mathis.

The unofficial launch of the holiday season at Matheny starts off with the annual concert presented by the Matheny choirs. This year, the theme was “Fruitcake & Mistletoe,” and the selections included “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “ Santa Baby” and “Winter Wonderland.” There was also a new twist on an old favorite by members of the music therapy staff, who sang, “Oh Little Town of Hackensack.”

The choirs perform throughout the year at a variety of venues, and the music therapy program also invites musicians to perform at Matheny and facilitates trips by students and patients to outside concerts and musical performances. The music therapy staff consists of five full-time board-certified music therapists. The holiday concerts were held on Wednesday afternoon, December 5, and Thursday evening, December 6.

All of us at Matheny grieve with the families of the children and adults whose lives were lost as the result of the senseless violence in Newtown, CT.

We want to assure all Matheny families that the safety of our students, patients, residents and staff is our highest priority. We have established safety and security procedures in place, in coordination with the Peapack-Gladstone Police Department; and we regularly practice, review and revise these policies when needed.

We are also, of course, aware that this tragedy may have an emotional impact on some of our students, patients and residents. Our Social Services and Psychological Services staff members are closely monitoring this situation and are available at any time to address these concerns.

Katherine Gaudio, in her walker, assisted by physical therapist Erin Meineke.

While virtually all of Matheny’s students and patients spend most of their lives in wheelchairs, they often spend time in a walker during physical therapy to increase their endurance and strengthen their muscles. Occasionally, a surprising breakthrough occurs during these physical therapy sessions.

Katherine Gaudio is an 11-year-old student who decided she didn’t want to return to her wheelchair and expressed her desire to make her posterior walker her main mode of mobility. “She is her own best advocate,” says Erin Meineke, DPT, her school physical therapist. “She made her opinion known.”

The hardest adjustment, Meineke says, was transitioning from a physical therapy session to utilizing the walker all day long because she didn’t realize how much energy it would take to use it all day. “In the beginning she was very tired. But now she’s had her walker for three months, and she’s stronger and more confident and not as tired at the end of the day,” she says.

Gaudio has used the walker on trips to Wal-Mart and to her Girl Scout meetings. And she’s also riding a regular bicycle with training wheels. She can safely transfer in and out of her walker, with supervision; and she can also safely sit in a regular chair, without a safety belt, in class or in the dining room or her bedroom. “Walking,” says Meineke, “is something the therapists are always working on, but it’s usually walking with an aide. Katherine didn’t want to be done walking after a therapy session.”

The whole transition, she adds, actually took a couple of years, but “she has always been a strong advocate for herself. She broke all the rules.”

Geri Brewer and her daughter, Rasheedah Mahali.

“We go to 60 places, but you guys are Number 1.” With those words, Tim McLoone, founder and leader of Holiday Express, launched this year’s holiday concert at Matheny. And the theater in the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center rocked with the sounds of “Nobody Ought to be Alone on Christmas” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

The energetic Holiday Express singer Pam McCoy was everywhere, offering her microphone to Matheny students, patients and their family members. Bedminster’s Byron Smith sang his original composition, “Santa’s Comin’.” And Geri Brewer, mother of adult patient Rasheedah Mahali, became the second Matheny parent to be part of the band, performing a solo on “This Little Light of Mine,” prompting McLoone to say, “The light keeps shining on all these wonderful people, the dedicated caregivers at Matheny.” The other Holiday Express parent is trumpeter Jim Yedloutschnig, father of adult patient, Alicia Yedloutschnig.

Holiday Express’ mission is to deliver music, food, gifts, financial support and friendship to those in need during the holiday season. The organization is made up of about 1,300 volunteers including more than 80 professional musicians. Members of the Matheny Choir performed with Holiday Express during the concert, and McLoone announced that members of the choir will again be performing at the eighth annual Holiday Express Benefit Concert on December 20 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.

Pam McCoy and Matheny student Bianca Mathis.

Odette Taft and Gary Eddey, MD, Matheny vice president and chief medical officer.

Dr. Lawrence T. Taft was a member of the Matheny medical staff for 13 years before he died in 2008. At that time, Matheny changed the name of its annual Service Awards to the Lawrence T. Taft Awards, in honor of the man who helped establish the field of neurodevelopmental pediatrics.

Dr. Taft founded the Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in the Bronx, and was the first chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School where he established the Institute for the Study of Child Development.

Dr. Taft’s widow, Odette Taft, remembers how much her husband “loved going to Matheny. He loved working with the kids, and he loved the parents as well. He would always shake the child’s hand. That way he felt they wouldn’t be afraid of him. And he always made a point of telling the parents, ‘You’re doing a good job.’ We’d get letters from families all the time.”

Herbert J. Cohen, MD, professor emeritus at Albert Einstein’s Department of Pediatrics, recalls that Dr. Taft, his mentor,  “pushed for the team approach. He brought together a number of people from different departments for an interdisciplinary approach.” That approach, adds Odette Taft, “is now an established, respected form of care.”

When Dr. Cohen arrived at Einstein in 1964, Dr. Taft trained him in what became developmental pediatrics. “Larry,” he says, “was a good observer of children’s behavior and development and an excellent teacher. A number of the people he trained went into leadership positions in the field.”

Dr. Taft was also a mentor to Gary Eddey, MD, vice president and chief medical officer at Matheny. Working with Dr. Taft, says Dr. Eddey, was “pure pleasure. Until the very end — three months before his death — he was training the medical staff and me how to provide care for the patient population with complex disabilities.”

Odette Taft remembers a trip to China. “One of the Chinese doctors came over to him and said, ‘I’ve read your papers.’ We were in Greece, and a woman brought her child to see him. He was so gratified that people thought so highly of him.”

Benita Kiell, left, helps Lorrie Pearson select a print.

Benita Kiell of Far Hills, NJ, has been volunteering at The Friends of Matheny’s Second Chance Shop for about three years. The shop sells gently used items, such as clothing, books, artwork and household items, to raise money to enhance the quality of life for Matheny’s students and patients. Kiell originally heard about the shop through a work colleague of her daughter whose son was a residential student.

“It gives me a good feeling to be working for a good cause,” she says. One of her regular customers, Lorrie Pearson of Basking Ridge, points out that she has an additional reason for shopping at Second Chance. “You never know what you might find,” she says.

“Frederick Marine,” by Mike Arin.

A “munny” is a do-it-yourself vinyl figure with movable joints, made by a company called Kid Robot. It has become very trendy, as artists try to come up with unique ways of decorating the dolls, using pens, pencils, markers, paint and other materials.

Speakeasy Art Gallery in Boonton, NJ, is presenting a “Munny Makers” exhibit from December 7-30, and three artists from Matheny’s Arts Access Program—Mike Arin, Jenny Cox and Alex Stojko—have had their munnys accepted in the show.

“Ellen,” by Jenny Cox.

Speakeasy Art showcases the work of both international and local contemporary artists. It holds a new reception on the first Friday of every month. Arts Access enables people with disabilities to create fine art, assisted by professional artist-facilitators.

Danny Teresi and his parents at last year’s Holiday Express concert.

The holiday season is heating up at Matheny, starting with “Fruitcake & Mistletoe,” the annual Holiday Concert presented by the Matheny Choirs. This year it will be on Wednesday, December 5, at 2 p.m. and Thursday, December 6, at 7 p.m.

Then, on Sunday, December 9, Holiday Express, an all-volunteer band that gives more than 50 concerts between Thanksgiving and Christmas, will make its 12th visit to Matheny. For Tim McLoone, founder and leader of Holiday Express, coming to Matheny is like visiting old friends. He knows many of the students and patients on a first-name basis and chats with them during the concert. Holiday Express’ mission is to deliver music, food, gifts, financial support and friendship to those in need during the holiday season. The musicians also play every spring at the Matheny Prom.

On Saturday, December 15, it’s Lunch with Santa from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Matheny children’s dining room. Families of all of our students are invited to attend all of the holiday events. Just contact Linda Frankshun, director of therapies, at 908 234-0011, ext. 226.

Tim McLoone, leading the band last year.

Dancer/choreographer Dion Alston, performing “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” with dance facilitator Elizabeth Zelesny.

When Robert Schonhorn was president of Matheny in 1993, he posed the question: “Can people with disabilities create fine art?” Nineteen years later, it is clear that the answer is an unqualified “Yes!”

Full Circle 2012: Unexpected Art, the annual celebration of Matheny’s Arts Access Program, was held on Saturday, December 1, in the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center and was dedicated to the man who, along with then medical director Gabor Barabas MD, conceived of and created this unique program, which enables people with disabilities to create fine art, assisted by professional artist-facilitators.

Schonhorn, who died earlier this year, recognized the creative possibilities that were trapped inside the bodies of people with disabilities. “My father would have been so proud,” said Erica Schonhorn Gorman, Schonhorn’s daughter, as she and his grandson Max Gorman, accepted a special plaque from Steve Proctor, Matheny president and CEO.

Guests at Full Circle attended a visual arts exhibit and reception in the gallery before viewing a stage presentation that included a video tribute to Schonhorn as well as several examples of prose, poetry, drama and dance created by Arts Access artists. A dessert reception followed.

Corporate sponsors were: The Provident Bank Foundation, Day Pitney, LLP, Affinity Federal Credit Union and The Angeletti Group. Food and beverage donors were: Café Azzurro and cocoLuxe fine pastries, Peapack; Gladstone Tavern, Gladstone; 3West, Basking Ridge; and Village Office Supply, Somerset.

Matheny president Steve Proctor presents a special plaque to Erica Schonhorn Gorman and Max Gorman.

For the past several years, members of the Bernardsville, NJ, Rotary Club have donated and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for guests at the picnic following Miles for Matheny, our annual fundraiser and community event held every April.

On November 13, Janice Kriegman, Matheny development associate, attended the Rotary Club’s monthly meeting at the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge, NJ, and presented club president Dr. Brian Wallace with a special Certificate of Recognition in appreciation of the group’s support.