Grateful for graduation

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006

For more of your opinions, go to www.gazette.net/letters.

William G. ‘‘Bill” Robertson, Rockville

The writer is the president and CEO of Adventist Health Care, which includes Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Washington Adventist Hospital, Potomac Ridge Behavioral Health System, Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital of Maryland, Adventist Senior Living Services, Greater Washington Sleep Disorders Centers, Adventist Health Careers Training Center, Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Adventist Home Health Services, the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Children and Infants and LifeWork Strategies.

In a world that seems to be battling at all fronts, it is sometimes the simple things in life that can help us appreciate our world and look towards a bright future. I recently had this blessed experience.

On a recent Thursday morning, we awoke to news of terrorist plots, security and safety. Like many, upon learning about the alleged plans of terrorists to detonate bombs on planes between the United Kingdom and the United States, my general outlook on the world was brought down and the prospects of the coming days seemed bleak.

But the next day, my mood was lifted thanks to the courage, determination and forward-looking spirits of 10 precious members of our community.

On that day, I had the opportunity to attend the graduation ceremony for the 10 young children who, over the past year, have been students in the Therapeutic Nursery Program (TNP) at the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Children in Rockville.

The Lourie Center is the newest member of the Adventist HealthCare family and I attended the event with other executives from the organization. As I sat in the decorated gymnasium waiting for the students to enter, I didn’t realize how these 10 children would raise my spirits, touch my heart and bring into focus what is really important in the world, at a time when the world seems to be spinning out of control with hatred and war.

The TNP is a wonderful preschool for children whose emotional or behavioral challenges may interfere with their success in a regular preschool or day care setting. This year there were 10 students in the program. The perceptive intervention of parents and medical providers helped these children find their way into the preschool. The TNP provides appropriate social, intellectual, emotional and physical growth for each child, so that he or she can be personally and carefully nurtured.

The backbone of the program is building trusting relationships that can become the context for learning, growth and change, and those relationships — with their teachers, their fellow students, their families — were all on display at the graduation. The special event marks the onward progress of those children who are moving on to kindergarten.

The event started with a processional — as do all graduations, I suppose. This processional was a vivid depiction of ‘‘The Little Engine That Could,” with the children dressed like engineers, wearing hats and scarves and just the right swagger and determination. They were each little engines, pulling up over that big mountain, and you could tell that in their time in the TNP they had learned much about working together, trusting each other and being helpful to the ones near them.

Then the children settled in and watched a wonderful video presentation that revisited the highlights of their year. There were lots of songs with train themes, but the one I remember best was the ‘‘Locomotion.” The TNP graduates can certainly do the locomotion. And the TNP team has discovered not only how to keep up, but also how to create an environment where play and discovery are truly therapeutic.

Following the video, the children proceeded before us once again, this time in paper mortarboards that they had constructed themselves. The diplomas were distributed with great fanfare. Many pictures were taken and laughter and joy were abundant. There were also a few tears, including some of my own.

I stood in that place — a place of safety for these great kids — and felt a little safer myself. I thought about what happens when people work together to create something good and about how people of good faith working together can truly make a difference. We were still at Code Orange on the terror scale, but somehow I felt a bit better about the prospects for our planet, and for the world we are creating for these children and for all our children.

I know in my heart that feeling good about the TNP program and what it offers to young children does not change the feeling that I have when I think about what terrorists want to do to our country and our world. But nonetheless, I can respond to the optimism and faith I see at the TNP with renewed optimism in my own life, and with faith in the future we can create for ourselves. In front of me on that Friday were 10 children who came to TNP with challenges and uncertainties that could have prevented them from living out the promise of their young lives. These young children joyously asked me to celebrate their triumphs and accomplishments — and I proudly celebrated with them.

Thank you, TNP, for the privilege. Thank you for reminding me of how to face my own challenges and uncertainties. And thank you, Lourie Center, for making this a little better place to grow and live.