- Hello, and welcome to Living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

A medical clinic for people with Down Syndrome is now part of Lehigh Valley Health Network.

The clinic, founded by the eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center, offers resources, education, advocacy, and programs to more than 250 patients and their families.

The Health Network's plan includes expanding those services.

- Have a seat, buddy.

There you go.

We can look at the animals again.

- Like any parents, Jennifer and Brian Paul are filled with pride when they look at their little boy.

- He's a wonderful kid.

Typical four-year-old.

He's into everything and wants to get into trouble, and climb all over.

And he's doing really well.

- Turn the page.

Good job.

- He is a joy to be around.

He is a super-active kid.

He loves trucks.

He loves being in motion all the time.

Though his parents see Jacob as a typical kid, he has some atypical health needs.

- I had a wonderful pregnancy.

Healthy.

We had a prenatal diagnosis.

I was 20 weeks along, and they found he had fluid around his brain and his heart.

So that was a red flag.

- The couple weren't sure if their third child would make it to his birthday.

- We were scared.

We didn't know what to expect.

- So at that point in time, it was pretty concerning, because we didn't know anything then, it looked like there might have been an issue with his brain, with his heart.

- The Fogelsville parents soon learn their child had Down's syndrome.

- To be honest with you, it was more of a relief than anything.

I thought, "My son's not going to make it to full term," like, "we're going to lose this pregnancy."

And then, "Oh, I can deal with Down syndrome."

Yep, alligator.

- Although they were relieved, the Pauls had little experience with Down's syndrome and quickly started researching.

They came across the eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center and felt immediate comfort when another parent with a child with Down Syndrome talked about the resources available there.

- There was someone for Jen to talk to and eased her concerns right away.

- Oh, you're going to hold my hand?

Oh, my goodness.

Why, thank you.

- Next came the initial visit.

- It was the most amazing appointment.

It was with a set of pediatricians that have so much experience with patients with Down syndrome.

- There's a list of medical conditions, other things that children with Down syndrome have more frequently than the typical population.

- We have a New and Expecting Parents program where, if a family gets a diagnosis, they give us a call and we have a family on the other line that has been through an experience like they're ready to go through.

- Located in LVHN's Health Center at Trexlertown, the center provides services and supports to individuals with Down syndrome and their families.

- And then, we provide educational advocacy for families who have children that are school-age.

If they need help with doing individualized education plans or just getting support in the school setting, we'll actually go with them to some of their school meetings or just answer phone calls.

And recently, we just started providing programming for teens and adults.

- Eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center's executive director, Kerri DiDario, works closely with the clinic's medical director, Dr. Donald Levick.

- It's a comprehensive care model.

It's a holistic model.

We meet with the family and, along with myself or one of the other providers, we also have a therapist in the room, either an occupational or physical therapist, and they interact with the patient and the family.

- The pediatrician has been volunteering his medical expertise since the program opened in 1999.

- It's been very rewarding for me to spend all these years growing and learning, and sharing with these families.

- Through a new partnership with Lehigh Valley Health Network, Levick will not only continue to see patients, but he'll be able to recruit new doctors.

- We knew that the sustainability of the resources that we needed, both the physicians, the therapists, was going to be very difficult to fill on a volunteer basis, especially at the frequency of the clinic sessions that we have.

- The center will now be referred to as the LVPG Down Syndrome Medical Clinic.

- Not every physician has a background with Down syndrome.

So when you take your child to the doctor and you expect them to know all things medical, they may not have ever experienced working with a child with Down's syndrome.

Most patients, like Jacob, come to visit once a year for a medical exam and have other available resources throughout the year.

It's a place that's offered immense peace of mind to Jacob's parents, who are now involved with volunteering at the center.

- There you go!

Yay!

- Yay!

- That's great!

- It was comforting, I would say, is the best way to describe it, just knowing that they had so much experience.

They've seen children with disabilities, with abilities.

Yeah.

- Interested patients and their families can find more information on LVHN's website.

And those with the eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Clinic say they are always looking for volunteers.

That'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.