Megan’s Place going strong

It’s been seven months since Megan’s Place first opened. The respite care center for children with physical disabilities is growing remarkably.

Owners Bryan and Kristin Smock announced at the end of January that the center now accepts the Children’s Extensive Support waiver that provides Medicaid-funded services at Megan’s Place.

“We’ve had several families that are interested now that we have CES waivers,” Bryan Smock said.

Through the CES waiver, families that are eligible will not have to pay out-of-pocket costs for the program, which provides temporary care for after school, evenings and weekends, as well as a summer program.

In addition to the 10 children Megan’s Place assists, the center has accepted six more children.

“It was a little bit of a slow start,” Kristin Smock said. “But then as people heard about us, it’s picked up quite a bit and now that we have the waiver, we’re kind of at this point where it’s starting to really pick up.”

Currently the center cares for children ages 6-16 years old, but in June, Megan’s Place will be able to take in children as young as 3 and up to 18.

In March, the center will open its afternoon and evening care as early as noon, with earlier times during the summer, starting at 8 a.m.

Feedback received from parents has been emotional.

“I make a lot of moms cry, in a good way. Lots of hugs,” Kristin Smock said. “Parents who haven’t had anything quite like this have been thrilled.”

Kat Vontungeln, of Wheat Ridge, is one parent who brings her child to Megan’s Place.

A single mother of four children, her oldest daughter, Rachel, has a rare disease known as juvenile Batten disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that begins in childhood.

Without a doubt, she said, she trusts Bryan and Kristin to take good care of her daughter.

“You don’t have to worry about it, and I think that’s the big thing with any respite place or child care,” Vontungeln said. “I can just not worry about her for a while.”

Bryan and Kristin, former Jeffco school teachers, left the public school system behind to open a special place for children with physical disabilities. The center is named after Megan Rogers, a little girl whom Bryan met while working at a respite care facility in Fort Collins.

Born with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic neurological disorder, Rogers passed away in 2006 at the age of 10 and has continued to be Bryan’s muse for the center’s mission.

“I created just this bond with her that I didn’t create with the other kids,” Bryan told Colorado Community Media last July. “She’s always had a special place in my heart.”

A framed photo of Rogers hangs above the fireplace mantel in the center.

For more information about Megan’s Place visit megansplacellc.org.

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