Dublin family touts Nationwide Children’s in Capitol
WASHINGTON — When Logan Manch was diagnosed with profound hearing loss as a newborn, his parents were at a loss: What resources were available? What should they do next? How could they give their beautiful, blue- eyed son the best possible future?
They were, they say four years later, fortunate: They had the enthusiastic and comprehensive services of Nationwide Children’s Hospital to help.
Logan, now 4 , has a bilateral cochlear implant and is, by all definitions, thriving. And his parents, Dublin residents Sarah Lodge and Charles Manch, have a mission: To spread the word about how the children’s hospital helped.
That mission brought them to Washington, D.C., this week for the Children’s Hospital Association’s annual trip to Capitol Hill. In the capital, they lobbied lawmakers including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rob Portman, R- Ohio, as well as Reps. Steve Stivers, R- Upper Arlington, and Bill Johnson, R- Marietta, about the importance of children’s hospitals and a congressionally authorized program that helps pay for graduate medical education for pediatrics.
Part of what moves them is a harsh reality: While their private insurance — as well as a state program providing insurance assistance families whose income is too high to qualify for Medicaid — have largely covered Logan’s medical needs, the other families they have met at Nationwide sometimes face tougher circumstances. Insurance covered Logan’s cochlear implant, but it sometimes doesn’t cover his friends’ pediatric hearing aids — which cost between $1,500 and $3,000 per ear.
“I don’t think kids should want for any medical care they are born needing,” Lodge said.
The family also trekked to Washington to tout the care Nationwide has provided. Its doctors and specialists have worked with the public schools to help prepare Logan for school. It’s linked them with other parents whose children are living with hearing loss. And it even has a sibling center so Logan’s 7– year– old sister, Jenna, has a place to hang out during Logan’s medical appointments. Because they had the resources of the hospital and other support, Logan “will be able to do whatever he wants to do,” said his mother.
“We were the lucky ones,” Lodge said.