SAN ANTONIO – The Children's Rehabilitation Institute of Teleton USA, or CRIT, is not only the first of its kind in San Antonio, it's a first in the nation.
Doctors and therapists collaborate in CRIT's 45,000-square-foot facility to rehabilitate children with any kind of skeletal, muscular or neurological disorder.
Ryan Leland said that the staff and facility has made a world of difference in the life of his son, Kayden.
"When he was first born, we were in the NICU. We knew he had some sort of muscle issue, but we didn't know exactly what it was," Leland said.
Kayden is now 3 years old, and just last year, he was diagnosed with merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy.
"He's missing a particular protein that he needs for his muscles to heal or to grow, so the muscle that he has is what he'll have for the rest of his life," Leland said.
Leland gives CRIT the credit for his son's rehabilitation.
"Here, there's equipment that allows him to move and do things he wouldn't be able to do otherwise," Leland said. "He's able to be in an environment where he can play around and move. In the pool, he's able to reach for things and feel weightless."
Leland said having all of Kayden's doctors in one place has helped his family streamline his son's care, from getting the proper medical equipment to physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
"Activities of daily living — think of everything that you do from the time you wake up in the morning to the time you go to bed," said Cynthia Riley, CRIT chief medical officer. "We try to address it in their therapy itself. Through aquatics therapy, we get in, we have families get in the pool. They work on strength, endurance, range of motion and gait training."
Leland said his son refers to the doctors and nurses as his friends and the therapy areas as places where he goes to play.
CRIT will be hosting an open house from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday so families can see its state-of-the-art technology and meet other families there, as well as the medical staff.