The examination room at the Pediatric Resource Center in Peoria is painted with a calming mural to help the children who may be victims of abuse or neglect feel more comfortable while being examined there by a special-trained doctor or nurse practitioner. (Photo courtesy of the Pediatric Resource Center)

A sky-blue wall painted with fluffy white clouds, whimsical flowers and a squirrel scampering up a tree helps patients feel more comfortable in the examination room at Peoria’s Pediatric Resource Center.

Donated by local artists, the calming mural is an important touch because the center provides medical evaluations and social services for children who may be victims of abuse or neglect.

“We see kids from newborn to 18 for sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect. The average age of our patient is 5 years, 2 months,” said executive director Stephanie Johnson. “ Sadly, we’re really busy. We’d love to work our way out of business with prevention.”

The Peoria center and others like it around the state are seeing an increased need for their services. Last year the PRC provided medical evaluations and social services to more than 800 children from 32 central Illinois counties, which was a 13 percent increase from the previous year.

“Based on research, it appears that child abuse statistics are on the rise. However, we have worked very hard to ensure that physicians and other providers are aware of PRC services in order to ensure that the children who need our services get the child-friendly medical evaluations and social services they need,” Johnson said.

There are seven Pediatric Child Abuse and Neglect Medical Centers of Excellence in Illinois as designated in 2016 by the Illinois Children’s Justice Taskforce. The designation is based on program standards established nationally by the Children’s Hospital Association. Each of the designated centers is under the medical direction of at least one physician certified as a child abuse pediatrician by the American Board of Pediatrics.

People at last year’s Harvesting Hope fundraiser for the Pediatric Resource Center in Peoria enjoyed a s’mores bar, which will be offered again at this year’s event on Saturday, Sept. 30, along with heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, dueling pianos and both live and silent auctions. (Photo courtesy of the Pediatric Resource Center)

Other designated centers in Illinois outside Peoria are located at the Anne and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, the Multidisciplinary Pediatric Education and Evaluation Program in Chicago, the Medical Evaluation Response Initiative Team in Rockford and the Children’s Medical and Mental Health Resource Network at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

The PRC is affiliated with the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria and the Children’s Hospital of Illinois at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, and is located on the hospital’s campus.

“Families don’t pay for the exam,” Johnson said. “We accept whatever insurance covers, and we write off whatever is left. We do have less control over things like radiology and lab fees, so we work with families to get those things written off or there are some programs within the state to help mitigate those costs.”

The PRC receives in-kind donations of necessary medical supplies and equipment through the Children’s Hospital and is funded primarily through grants, contracts and donations. Helping to bridge the gap is the center’s 23rd annual Harvesting Hope fundraiser, which takes place this year from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center, 1306 N. Berkeley, in Peoria.

The fundraiser will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, entertainment by Chicago’s Felix and Fingers dueling pianos, a raffle and both live and silent auctions, including mobile bidding which is already open at www.galabid.com/auction/Hope2017. Auction items include specialty gift baskets, multiple vacation packages, car detailing, a ride-along with the Washington Police Department, jewelry and more.

Tickets for the informal gala are $75 each with funds going to help ensure PRC is staffed with special-trained providers and case coordinators, as well as to provide education to physicians, nurses and the public regarding child abuse and neglect.

The PRC’s initial mission when Dr. Kay Savings founded it in 1993 was to do medical exams for kids coming into foster care. Within a few years, however, the focus shifted to responding to medical need and child protection issues “because they were seeing so many different levels of maltreatment,” Johnson said.

The center currently has nine people on staff, including Dr. Channing Petrak, a board certified child abuse pediatrician. A special-trained nurse practitioner, Allyson Cordoni, will join the staff Oct. 2.

“We provide a lot of education to the families that we interact with about what this exam is and what it isn’t. This exam doesn’t hurt, it’s not invasive. Obviously, it’s sensitive, but it should not hurt. Having this kind of exam done by people who are highly skilled and can testify in court about these things if needed is really important to child safety and community safety,” Johnson said.

The center assigns a case coordinator to every child, and that person stays with the child before, during and after the exam and follows the abuse case afterward. The center also has healthy snacks and drinks available through donations from the Midwest Food Bank since many of the children travel a long way to get there and may not have eaten.

“We also accept community donations for new and slightly-used stuffed animals and books that kids can take home if they’d like to,” Johnson said.

Another goal of the fundraiser is to raise awareness of the Pediatric Resource Center so if someone needs the service, they’ll know where to go, she added.

“We work pretty hard at sharing what we do because the care we provide is so important,” Johnson said. “We also work to educate people to recognize signs of abuse. I hope people are becoming more aware of prevention and signs of abuse. I hope that’s part of the reason why our referrals have increased.”

The center hopes to raise $65,000 from the Harvesting Hope fundraiser. For more information, call (309) 624-9595, visit the PRC website at www.peoria.medicine.uic.edu/prc/ or email prcinfo@uic.edu.

–‘Peoria pediatric center reports increase abuse, neglect of children —