Fox Valley Technical College and Children's Wisconsin are teaming up to make a difference for kids with special health needs as part of the Go Baby Go! national program, March 8, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Fox Valley Technical College and Children’s Wisconsin are teaming up to make a difference for kids with special health needs.
It’s part of a national program called Go Baby Go! which provides electric, ride-on cars — adapted specifically for each individual child — in an effort to help them gain more mobility and independence.
Physical and occupational therapists from Children’s Wisconsin work with FVTC’s Engineering Technologies and Health Sciences department to determine the modifications required for each child’s unique needs. FVTC students and faculty then build the cars, which are provided to families at no cost.
On Friday, the partnership hit a milestone, giving away its 25th car. Katelin Keck, a physical therapist with Children’s Wisconsin, said they are seeking more applicants who would benefit from the Go Baby Go! program.
“We have a push button instead of the foot pedals so that our kids can access the cars more easily,” Keck explained. “It allows independent mobility, meaning they are able to move themselves and go and explore and learn in their environment in ways that they may not have been able to do before.”
Keck said a lot of car recipients tend to be younger, ranging from around nine months to five years old, whose families are working to get their children more expensive mobility equipment, such as a wheelchair. “These cars are a free mobility device, so we’re able to kind of give them some way to play and learn and grow during that time.”
Wisconsin’s first Go Baby Go! branch began in Milwaukee in 2016 and expanded to the Fox Valley in 2023.
Comments