[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S24]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING DR. MOISES SIMPSER

 Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to a fine 
humanitarian and Floridian, Dr. Moises Simpser. Throughout his career 
as a pediatric pulmonologist, Dr. Simpser has worked for the well-being 
of all sick children; particularly those that are technology dependent 
and otherwise referred to as ``fragile children.'' Dr. Simpser's goal 
has been an admirable one--to achieve the best medical care for all 
children of all economic strata and backgrounds.
  Since his arrival in Florida in 1984, Dr. Simpser has been an 
unyielding advocate for the young patient. As Dr. Simpser's patients 
are technology dependent, they were only cared for in Intensive Care 
Units of hospitals, where they became virtual prisoners in the unit. He 
fought diligently for the State of Florida to cover the cost of 
homecare for a ventilator dependent child. Through this program, even 
the youngest of children on ventilators were sent home for care in 
their familiar and familial environments. However, even at home, the 
children increasingly became isolated within their own four walls. To 
help free these children, Dr. Simpser developed and founded the first 
Ventilator Assisted Children's Center Camp or VACC Camp.
  VACC Camp is a place where both families and technology dependent 
children can be in an environment that allows these fragile children to 
do everyday activities that were once unavailable to them. These 
include activities such as swimming, boating, sailing, visiting malls, 
and many others. These children, always ventilator dependent and 
usually wheelchair bound and afflicted with additional diseases, are 
able to enjoy the wonders of Florida's nature and outdoors at no cost 
to their families.
  VACC Camp has allowed both abled and disabled children to come 
together for a life broadening experience by providing an incentive for 
abled children to participate. Dr. Simpser has worked with Florida's 
Miami-Dade County school system to create a 100 percent volunteer 
staff, with the school board furnishing high school students with 
service credits for their volunteer efforts. This remarkable camp, now 
in its 16th year, earned Dr. Simpser the prestigious 1998 Governors 
Community Service Award from the College of Chest Physicians.
  In addition to his development of VACC Camp, Dr. Simpser has 
established a pediatric asthma center for underprivileged children. He 
received a combined grant which allowed him to demonstrate that 
providing quality medical care to this population can reduce emergency 
room visits and hospitalizations in these children by 70 percent.
  He has also established a Cystic Fibrosis Center in South Florida, 
the first such center to be associated with the National Cystic 
Fibrosis Foundation. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation honored him as the 
recipient of the first Lucent Technologies Humanitarian of the Year 
Award.
  Dr. Simpser's altruism and dedication to quality health care for 
children regardless of race, gender, and economic status are a positive 
statement for doctors across America. Dr. Simpser has been honored and 
should be admired for the good he does every day, for his persistence 
in always improving the delivery of quality healthcare, and for his 
vision to meet the needs of severely debilitated children. I am indeed 
proud to acknowledge the work of Dr. Moises Simpser.

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