Community support by a professional sports team in Pittsburgh resulted in a local medical center being named after the team, according to a published report.
The "Pirates Charities Therapy Gym" at the Children's Institutes of Pittsburgh was unveiled earlier this month, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Manager Clint Hurdle with the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team handed over a $200,000 check on December 11, and the gym will host the work of people who hold physical and occupational therapy jobs.
"I look at these young people here, and they have different hopes and different dreams," Hurdle said at the event, referencing his 10-year-old daughter's personal health struggles. "But they're real dreams, they're real hopes. My daughter has hopes and dreams of her own. And what I've come to learn in 10 years of Maddie's existence is that we're in a better place for our children with Prader-Willi now than we were 10 years ago."
Maddie, the manager's daughter, suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome, which threatens mental and physical development.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupational therapists help patients develop, recover and enhance skills required during life's daily routines.