06/14/2023
June 14, 2023
With great sadness, I have the impossible responsibility to announce that Play Works Children's Therapies will be closing this summer, no later than August 31st. Our therapists are taking time to process this information and determine their last day of providing services with us. Our team will inform you of your child’s final date of service on an individual basis.
While there are many issues informing this decision, most relate directly to funding and our inability to provide the level of care to our families, our community, and just as importantly, our team members. Each year, every month, we find ourselves having to ask more and more from our team, by and large driven by the need to 'work more' to offset the inexplicably, unjustified, and when compared to similar locations across the State of Oregon, disproportionately low reimbursement rates for the services our clinic provides. We have, simply, asked too much, and that doesn't align with our personal values.
For years, we have worked tirelessly to advocate for rate increases, equitable adjustments that would allow us to simply continue to operate, no more no less. The response to our request has unilaterally been, no. No to Play Works and the Gorge communities while other clinics around the State received increases of up to 30 percent or more. No, to an increase in rates for services provided at the Center for Autism services when the reimbursement levels we were seeking were already in place, in areas such as Washington and Multnomah counties, for the same levels of care.
We have explored outside funding as an option, but we never felt like we found a partner with aligned values. While limited because we are not a not for profit entity, we have applied for and have been awarded a few grants, and while they are certainly helpful and appreciated, they were not nearly enough to offset the additional costs incurred through COVID, the increase in costs of technologies, or simply, the increase in costs of living in the Gorge, and working and offering a livable wage to our team members.
There is no way for me to express my level of gratitude for your support over the past nearly 8 years. Every family, every child, that we have had the opportunity to serve and support has been a blessing. Lives were changed for the better, and we hope that we were able to reciprocate those feelings, gratitudes, and blessings.
If you are supported by insurance, an advocacy call from you as their member may begin to affect change. We encourage you to please keep advocating, whether for your family, or for others. And our hope is that in the future, our loss today will ignite the spark for change.
In love & gratitude,
Sarah McDonnell
