ACDS hits the road with new mobile therapy vehicle

Plainview-based ACDS, a nonprofit serving children and adults with disabilities, has just rolled out its new Mobile Therapy Service vehicle.

The therapy vehicle, a new Ford Transit 350 van, will help address disparities that low-income families experience while trying to access early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, according to an ACDS statement. ACDS’s newly launched Early Intervention Clinic currently provides 78 clinical services to 20 children.

Utilizing the Mobile Therapy Services vehicle, ACDS is able to provide desperately needed services in a manner that safeguards the health and safety of the families and its clinical providers. The vehicle is sponsored by a grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.

“This mobile treatment program promises to expand a vital service to families in need,” Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, the foundation’s CEO, said in the statement. “The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is proud to partner with ACDS to bring early intervention services to children with disabilities in under resourced immigrant communities on Long Island.” 

ACDS Executive Director Michael Smith expressed his gratitude to the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.

“We expect our investment in our youngest and most vulnerable learners to have a transformative effect on their future,” he said.

Jane Shimkin, director of Early Intervention at ACDS, was the creative force behind this initiative and was instrumental in getting it rolling. 

“Early Intervention is so important in helping infants and toddlers with disabilities develop to their full potential,” Shimkin said in the statement. “I am so thrilled to have had the support of Michael Smith, the ACDS Board of Directors and the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to make this dream a reality.”