NORWALK EXCHANGE CLUB DONATES TO HSC'S CHILDREN'S CONNECTION - AGENCY URGING COMMUNITY TO PROVIDE CRITICAL FUNDING!

For more than 10 years, The Norwalk Exchange Club has provided funding to support the COPE (Center for Outpatient Pediatric Evaluation) program at Norwalk Hospital which provided specialized forensic medical examinations to child sexual abuse victims. Recently, these services, coordinated by the Human Services Council’s Children’s Connection program, transitioned from Norwalk Hospital to the Norwalk Community Health Center. As one of only eight fully accredited Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) in the state, Children’s Connection provides a comfortable, private, child-friendly setting that is both physically and emotionally safe for children of all ages. The purpose of a CAC is to coordinate a collaborative multidisciplinary response to allegations of child sexual and severe physical abuse. The Multidisciplinary Team of Greater Norwalk was developed in 1997 to address limitations and gaps in services that individual agencies in the Greater Norwalk area were coming across while trying to face child abuse cases on their own. This critical team made up of of 13 public and private agencies meet on a bi-monthly basis to review cases currently in the system to wrap around families with a continuum of care to meet the needs of the child and their families.

The Norwalk Exchange Club is partially funding a new state of the art colposcope. a medical instrument used for forensic exams of child victims of sexual abuse. The colposcope does not make contact with the child’s body during the physical exam but instead takes highly, detailed and magnified photos of the area. This instrument helps child victims of sexual abuse get examined in the least invasive way to avoid further trauma and insure specialized care. It allows the Doctor to capture high quality photos, annotate any suspected abnormalities right on the image and securely share the images for peer review or a “second opinion” thus aiding in the treatment of the child and a more successful prosecution of the offender.

Program Director of Children’s Connection, Kari Pesavento: “We are extremely grateful for the donation from Norwalk Exchange Club for this new equipment. The Norwalk Exchange Club has been so generous to the Children’s Connection over the years and they have made our valuable services possible for the children we serve. Today, I am asking the rest of the community to stand beside the Exchange Club and help us raise the remaining $6,000 needed to purchase the colposcope. Without it, we are unable to truly provide the services necessary to help our children heal after this unspeakable crime. If you or your organization can contribute to the funding of the colposcope, please reach out to me directly at 203.849.1111 X3011 or kpesavento@hscct.org. Thank you.”

For more information about the Children’s Connection and all of the programs of the Human Services Council, please visit www.hscct.org or call – 203-849-1111.

pictured L-R back row, Bob Jaeger, John Wagner, Anthony DiLauro, Craig Glover, Bill Solder, Bill Sweeney

pictured L-R, front row, John Vuoso, Kari Pesavento, Dr. Janet Karpiak, Ralph Corasaniti, Rich Colangelo, Jim Depasquale