Memory of granddaughter lives on through medical fund
Published: January 26, 2008
Courtesy Richard Emmel
Arkansas' catastrophic illness fund is named for Sharon Lin Emmel, pictured shortly after her 2001 birth in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
By Amber Hood Little Rock Correspondent
As a teacher and father, it is no surprise that Dr. Richard Emmel has spent the past several years working to help make a difference in the lives of countless Arkansas families.
Having experienced the loss of a son to T-cell lymphoma in 1993 and a granddaughter to a coarctation of the aorta in 2001, Emmel knows firsthand the heartache of having a child and grandchild face serious illnesses and the frustration of expensive and unexpected medical bills.
Emmel, a member of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and an eighth-grade science teacher at Joe T. Robinson Middle School in Little Rock, knew that other families in Arkansas must also face the problem of having a child with a catastrophic illness.
He created the Baby Sharon Fund to honor his granddaughter, Sharon Lin Emmel, who died when she was two months old in 2001 while awaiting surgery in Vietnam.
Emmel worked with State Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson to pass Act 279 of 2003 that would help Arkansans who face this type of challenge. The law allows taxpayers to give any amount of money to families in need through the fund by indicating so on the state income tax form.
A catastrophic illness is any illness that is severe and demanding of costly medical care and a lengthy recovery period, and other states already have such health care funds set in place. In New Jersey, for example, giving to the fund is even required. All New Jersey employees must give $1 every year to their employers to contribute to a fund that serves as a special type of insurance for workers.
Dr. Patrick Casey, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock and a pediatrician at Arkansas Children's Hospital for the past 28 years, said that "while health insurances, including Medicaid, go a long way to support the costs of the illness itself, there are many associated costs that the family must bear that people often don't think about."
The Baby Sharon Fund helps families in different ways from purchasing special medical equipment a child needs at home to transportation to and from treatments.
Emmel describes the Baby Sharon Fund as a "one-to-one relationship." Because the organization is run by volunteers, every dollar given to the fund goes directly to help a sick child get the health care he or she needs.
Families can connect with medical professionals or social workers to submit their requests to the Baby Sharon Fund Committee. The committee, which Emmel chairs and Casey is a member of, votes to decide how to distribute the funds. The five-person committee also includes two other Catholics, Deacon John Marschewski and Ken Haynes.
"The list of people needing help is unending," Emmel said, "and if everyone could give just a dollar, it would make a big difference."
In 2006 and 2007, the committee handed out more than $23,600 to Arkansas families in need.
Currently, the fund operates on a few people giving large donations, but if many people gave small donations, the fund could grow and help more families, Emmel said.
For more information, log on to arkansas-cares.org. To contribute to the Baby Sharon Fund, send checks payable to "Baby Sharon's Children's Trust Fund" to Baby Sharon Fund Administrator, Individual Income Tax -- State of AR, P.O. Box 3628, Little Rock, AR 72203
