Good news in the Times?

The Asociated Press actually ran this story. That’s the first part of the good news.

“There are no medical miracles at Speciality, no wondrous stories of patients stepping out of their wheelchairs or suddenly talking after years of silence. The children of Specialty will deteriorate and die here. The real wonder is that they have survived.

The hospital is run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and papal photographs, crucifixes and statues of the infant of Prague adorn the nurses stations along with photographs of children who have died.

But staff and patients come from all cultures and religious beliefs. Many of the caregivers are African and Asian immigrants who know such children would never have survived in their native countries.

There was a time, not long ago, when they were rarely seen in this country.”

Actually, there are countless, endless stories like this. They should be in the news every day.

“There is something that is reachable inside everyone,” says occupational therapist Esperanza Minaya, as she massages the rigid limbs of a child whose body is shaking with tremors. “We just have to unlock it.”

The key is in the headline:

“At this special hospital, brain-damaged youths are loved, cared for – and treated as humans”