WOMAN LEAVES LEGACY OF HELP FOR CHILDREN
UT clinic to carry on late therapy student’s life goal
In one of her last journal entries, Rachel Kay Stevens wrote, “Love is meeting the needs of other people.”
That’s what Rachel wanted to do with her life.
That’s why she majored in psychology at Lyon College in her hometown of Batesville, Arkansas.
That’s why she enrolled in the occupational therapy program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis a little more than a year ago.
Rachel was planning to spend the rest of her life meeting the needs of children who were struggling through no fault of their own.
Children who were being treated as if they were just lazy or slow or obstinate or incorrigible instead of developmentally delayed for genetic or environmental reasons.
Children who had difficulty managing their emotions or focusing on school work or just sitting up or sitting still because of congenital abnormalities or fetal alcohol syndrome, abuse or neglect, chronic stress or trauma.
Children who had fallen behind because of motor, social-emotional, cognitive or sensory challenges that had been unnoticed or ignored until they entered kindergarten or first grade.
Children who were born with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or autism, torticollis, hypotonia or sensory processing disorder, or any
number of disabilities that impair their normal growth and development.
There are thousands of such children all over the Memphis and Mid-South area.
Many of them are children of poverty who, for a variety of reasons, aren’t screened, diagnosed or treated, especially early in life.
Most of us don’t become aware of their problems until we hear about the results of those problems in low test scores and graduation rates, high teen pregnancy rates and crime rates and other social measures.
“I grew up in my little Bartlett bubble, and I was not aware of the extent of the need until we started this project for Rachel,” said Caroline Dickey, now in her second year in UT’s occupational therapy program.
“When you know there’s such a great need, you can’t look the other way.” Rachel couldn’t. Except for being born with a sixth toe on her left foot, Rachel grew up a perfectly normal, healthy and happy child in Batesville. But even as a kid, she was drawn to kids with special needs.
“I think her own little birth defect gave her more empathy for others who were dealing with much greater issues,” Katrina Stevens said.
“She was so happy and so excited about becoming an occupational therapist and learning to help children who didn’t have the advantages she did. She had such a tender heart for children who were struggling.”
No one knew how Rachel’s own heart was struggling.
On Jan. 21, 2015, not quite three weeks into her first semester at UT, Rachel died suddenly in her sleep. Her autopsy report cited “probable cardiac arrhythmia.” She was 21.
After Rachel died, her parents, Randy and Katrina Stevens, established a scholarship fund in her name at Lyon.
They thought about doing the same at UT, but Dr. Anne H. Zachry, who chairs UT’s occupational therapy department, made another suggestion.
“The need for occupational therapy greatly outnumbers t he avail- able providers and cost is prohibitive,” Zachry said. “And even if a low-income child gets screened, the waiting list for therapy can be nine months to a year. If you’re talking about a 3-year-old child, that’s a critical window of time.”
As Rachel’s faith taught her, when God closes a window, He opens a door.
This morning, Rachel’s parents and two sisters, Kayla and Kinley, will be in Memphis to help open the doors of the Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center.
It will be the only clinic in the area that provides free screenings and other occupational therapy services to children and their families who are uninsured or underinsured.
The center, in donated space at the UTHSC Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities at 711 Jefferson, will be staffed with UT students and volunteer therapists.
Clinic organizers hope to see 300 to 500 families every year.
“After Rachel died, we decided as a family that it was either do nothing and grieve her loss, or get busy celebrating her life and her legacy,” Katrina Stevens said.
“If she were alive today, this is where she would be. She would be working in this clinic, helping children in need.”
I think her own little birth defect gave her more empathy for others who were dealing with much greater issues.” Katrina Stevens, Rachel Stevens’ mother