PEORIA, Ill. — OSF Healthcare’s autism research was bolstered Tuesday by $1 million.
The gift from Charles and Sue Thomas of Rockford creates the eponymous Charles and Sue Thomas Autism Endowment for Innovative Solutions.
The Thomases’ granddaughter is an OSF patient on the spectrum.
OSF Children’s and Easter Seals have partnered in recent years to form an autism collective.
“This endowment actually is going to be a component of the research arm of our autism collective,” said OSF HealthCare Foundation President Tom Hammerton.
OSF in a news release said the money would fund research technology specializing in early detection, care, and treatment of the disorder.
The hospital since 2016 has conducted all autism research in its Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center.
The Jump ARCHES (Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation) program places teams of researchers together to look at autism through various technologies.
Hammerton said the Thomas Endowment will help Jump to become an autism hub for Central Illinois.
“This is the impetus for a research center that will tie into the autism collective, that will tie into a destination center,” he said.
Hammerton said diagnoses of autism during the 2010s have nearly tripled from the aughts.
“In our catchment area, there’s likely about 6,000 children with autism. So, there’s just a backlog, if you will.
“The services are needed.”
