100% Chance of Fun

Story by Kathy Thompson. Photos by Alice Brette.

FBC in late August is typically a quiet place, but not this year. Sixteen rising third, fourth and fifth graders spent four days preparing for a musical production. 100% Chance of Rain will be presented Wednesday, November 1, at 6:15 p.m. in the Sanctuary. This play has a history at FBC, having been directed here a generation ago by Karen Stanley, former Minister to Children. Performers then included Kevin Beale, Cynthia Blackmore Maslyk, Amber Townsend West, and others.

Ruth Szucs, Music Ministry Associate, led the pre-musical prep camp, with assistance from Anne Ball, Tiffany Talley and Kathy Thompson. In addition to preparing for the musical, these women helped develop relationships with the children who participate in Carol Choir. They taught them how to read music and to understand the language of music. Madelyn said, “I love singing. Ms. Ruth explains it in a way I can understand.”

Movement, theory, hand-bells, chimes, and colored bells enhanced the songs and made the experience fun for the children. They learned sign language to accompany one of the songs. But camp also emphasized growing in faith. The children learned the story of Noah and how God used him. They also had the opportunity to choose a puppet to work with creatively to express their faith through music. As Ruth said, “Many feel they already have a purpose given to them by God. They want others to know they are beautiful and perfect just as God made them.”

A musical production is more than learning music and more than understanding the meaning of the story. It is also making sets. And the children did that as well. One of them, Anna, said she loved using her imagination to “make stuff.”

Knowing that no camp is complete without field trips, the schedule included afternoons swimming and going to Maymont Park, the Science Museum, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). A scavenger hunt at the VMFA provided the opportunity to see music and movement in great pieces of art.

Using their imaginations these children created representations of a symphony of music, played learning games, created sets and props for the musical, wrote music, and did a lot of laughing. When asked what they loved the best about the week, Menley and Kendyl summed it up in one word, “Everything!”

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Kathy Thompson and her husband, Robert, have been members of FBC Richmond since 2012. Kathy is a former first grade teacher. She is the Studio Class Sunday School teacher and is active in the music ministry. Kathy and Robert have two sons, Matthew and Christopher, a daughter-in-law, Jennifer, two beautiful grandchildren, Peyton Elizabeth and Lane Matthew, and two needy dogs, Eli and Brody.

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Steppin’ Out with David Lawrence

 Story by Jeannie Dortch.

“My dad exemplified the philanthropic effort of volunteering. He always worked in some capacity to help others through his church service as a deacon, on mission trips, or in his community. And always without sacrificing time with family and friends who needed him. When you grow up with that, it becomes part of you too!”    —David Lawrence, physical therapist and amputee specialist

A serious foot injury while in college on a basketball scholarship changed David’s career goals to health and physical education with a certification in athletic training. But his desire to work with people rather than on them sent him back to school for a masters in physical therapy, earned in 1990.

David began using high-tech prosthetic devices with youths who had lost limbs. With this knowledge he created an amputee clinical education program for physiatrists (physicians who specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation) while working at McGuire Veteran’s Hospital in the early ’90s. Soon he was hired by Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Center as their prosthetic and sports medicine specialist. While there, he helped create an amputee clinic system they still use today. Working for At Home Care during the next six years, David developed a program to train home health care therapists to work with patients who had complex treatment needs.

In 2000, David learned there was a world-wide epidemic of young amputees with no access to care; due to a civil war, there were 40,000 in Turkey alone. Under the auspices of Physicians For Peace, David made his first volunteer trip alongside other physicians. He created a triage system, determining protocol as he worked. Initially, they attempted to use prosthetics brought from the U.S., but learned that creating a prosthetic center in Turkey would be more efficient. The curriculum David wrote for how to administer pre- and post-care to patients receiving a prosthetic limb is called Walking Free. This initiative was so successful in Turkey that it is now being used at nine locations in six countries. The process has taken 17 years to develop, and David still gives continuing education courses when he visits countries, keeping in touch online with therapists afterwards.

Lawrence Rehabilitation Specialists, Inc., also known as The Gait Center, opened in 2006 and is the only center of its kind in the United States. Unlike typical therapy centers, Lawrence Rehabilitation works primarily with patients whose issues limit their ability to walk, whether it be from orthopedic or neurological causes. Local prosthetic and orthotic companies work with The Gait Center, making molds, casts, braces, prosthetic limbs, knee units, feet, and shoes specifically tailored for the complex care administered by David and his team. “Most cities can provide good surgery,” commented David, “but the best care to teach a patient to walk again is in Richmond at The Gait Center.”

Though David travels the globe to help amputees in other countries, he has wanted to find a way to help more U.S. patients. In 2017, he plans to bring to Richmond a youth for whom doctors have been struggling to develop a comprehensive treatment plan. After treatment at The Gait Center is completed, David will take the patient back to his hometown. There he will be used as the model to teach doctors and therapists how he was rehabilitated to peak performance. This will be David’s first official outreach project under Mission Gait, his foundation that became a public charity in 2016.

One key to this process will be the technological piece. After a hands-on workshop, a self-directed online certification program for U.S. therapists will be available on the Mission Gait website where practitioners may become certified in The Gait Center’s level of complex care. Finally, professionals will work directly with David’s patients at The Gait Center and take exams to become certified providers for specialized care in their states.

Carolyn and David Lawrence

David was asked to define success. Wanting an answer that could be fully implemented into his life, he decided, “Success is an ongoing process of making the most of the gifts, abilities, skills, and opportunities that God has put in front of me.”

 

 

Author’s note: David’s wife, Carolyn, is the Director of Human Resources, Office Manager and Facility Designer of Lawrence Rehabilitation Specialists.

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