MFCP star performs at inaugural prayer
Known
for her rendition of “This Little Light of Mine,” Medically Fragile
Children’s Program (MFCP) patient Nikki, 16, was invited to sing her
song for the Governor’s Inaugural Prayer Service held just prior to the
inauguration Jan 10.
Nikki performs at
the Governor’s Inaugural Prayer Service.“We are all so proud of Nikki,” said Pat Votava, MFCP manager. “I was with her at the inauguration, and all day people stopped to tell her what a wonderful job she had done. Later in the day, when we were leaving the Governor’s Mansion, a man stopped her and told her she was his favorite part of the ceremony and asked to have his picture taken with her. I was lucky to be in the company of Nikki, the celebrity!”
Nikki first sang her song for Sen. Lindsay Graham in April 2006 when he visited the MFCP in North Charleston. While there, Nikki explained to Graham the importance of the program from her perspective and for children like her. Impressing the senator and those in attendance with her maturity and conviction, Nikki subsequently was asked to sing at the MUSC Leadership Development Institute and to attend the National Association of Children’s Hospital’s Advocacy Day in Washington D.C., in June. Again, Nikki performed her song for children and their advocates at the National Zoo.
“I want to shine the light on the Children’s Hospital and the Medically Fragile Children’s Program,” Graham said. “I want everyone to know about this (S.C. ) Children’s Hospital program.”
MFCP is an all-inclusive medical care program for medically-complicated children. The MFCP, a partnership between Children’s Hospital, South Carolina Medicaid and the South Carolina Department of Social Services, is a national model program for medically-complicated children in foster care.
Gov. Mark Sanford
with Nikki.“I want to share my song and its message about kids like me who need children’s hospitals with the people who make the rules about spending money,” Nikki said. “The Medically Fragile Children’s Program and Children’s Hospital take care of me in all kinds of ways. When my leg hurts, they give me something to put on it; they teach me to walk and they take X-rays. They help me with my reading and how to ask questions. They help me with the way I talk and how to get the words out correctly. I’m getting more mature. Everybody at Medically Fragile and the Children’s Hospital is helping me become independent. They are helping me manage money so I can have my own bank account. They make me feel special. I like everything about Medically Fragile,…the way people treat me,…all the fun things and exercises that I do.”
A lifelong MUSC Children’s Hospital patient, Nikki has been an MFCP patient since August 2005. She receives occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, educational support and medical care.
Friday, Feb. 2, 2007
Catalyst Online is published weekly,
updated
as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public
Relations
for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of
South
Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at
792-4107
or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to
Catalyst
Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to
catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island
Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.