On Thursday July 11, Nassau Association for the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC) in Brookville broke ground on a new building named The Pearl And Jack Ain Advantage Care Diagnostic and Treatment Center. The AHRC, a not-for-profit organization, provides programs and services for children and adults with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

The building was named after Jack and Pearl Ain who contributed $250,000 to the clinic. "We're giving a gift to an organization that has helped so many," said Mr. Ain. "We have been involved with AHRC for many years. There are wonderful people doing wonderful things here."

Amy and Horace Hagedorn, who also donated a large sum of money, shared many of the same thoughts. "We have a saying in my family. You can't take all the good stuff out of the Earth - you need to put something back. That's what's happening here today," Mr. Hagedorn said.

Patients with disabilities and their families expressed concern about the difficulty accessing gynecological, dental and psychiatric care. Medicaid does not provide adequate coverage for private practitioners to provide the level and intensity of the services needed and hospital-based clinic services in these areas are available but on an extremely limited basis according to the AHRC. The clinic is an attempt to centralize services while complementing the rest of the AHRC center.

"We want these patients to have access to a familiar staff who are highly trained in what they do and also trained to meet the special needs of these patients," said Mr. Mascari, AHRC executive director. "This will be a center that provides special services for special needs."

Construction will be completed in early 2003 and roughly 4,600 patients are anticipated within the first year. After the project is completed, nearly double that amount will have the opportunity to use the new facilities including health care workers. The clinic will also be home to a dental residency program for those involved in the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health system.

"We want this to be a model program on how to work with mentally retarded patients," said Mascari. "We wanted them to access something that many already have."

For the 500 children and adults who attend day programs at the AHRC, benefits from the clinic include clinic appointments, reduced waiting times, and minimal transportation.

Many of those attending the ceremony were excited to get the project underway. "This center clearly facilitates the care that I think my daughter should get," Rady Bruell said. "It eases my mind to know that there will be doctors and dentists who will be sensitive to their needs."