WHAT: Christiana Care will host an autism awareness event to help create a greater understanding in the community about people with autism who live and work in the community.

The event includes a showing of Extraordinary People, a documentary that follows the story of six very different individuals on the autism spectrum as they deal with personal challenges and find meaningful value through their work at a business called Extraordinary Ventures.

Following the conclusion of the documentary, Charmaine Wright, M.D., medical director of the Center for Special Health Care Needs, will moderate a panel discussion that includes leaders who help support people with autism who live and work in Delaware. Panelists include:

• Katina Demetriou, POW&R program director for Autism Delaware.
• Patricia Pfarrer, director of workforce development programs for The Precisionists.
• MaryAnn Nolan, co-founder of Waggies by Maggie and Friends.

About one in 59 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, according to estimates from U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. April is World Autism Month.

WHERE: Main Auditorium, Christiana Hospital’s John H. Ammon Medical Education Center at 4755 Ogletown-Stanton Rd., Newark, Del.

WHEN: Thursday, April 11 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Registration: Train by Cell: https://events.christianacare.org/event/autism-awareness/

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About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

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