ROCHESTER, NY – Daystar Kids, a Rochester-based organization that serves medically fragile children under the age of 5, is receiving a $3 million state grant to help fund a major expansion.

Reina Ramos’ baby girl was born at 25 weeks. It has not been an easy path. “She has oxygen, a G tube and was just diagnosed with cerebral palsy,” Ramos says.

Ramos never thought a center like Daystar would be an option. “I was very worried, I was telling my husband that I’m going to have to stop working and take care of her because no one is going to take her with a G tube,” Ramos remembers. But Daystar did it.

Daystar Kids also took little Leo Mastin as a student. He suffered from a lack of oxygen during childbirth.

“It took over 25 minutes of chest compressions before we could revive him, and it was not a good start to say the least,” said his father Richie.

After months in the hospital, Leo was allowed to come home, but his parents had to work to support him and his brother and sister.

“When we came to Daystar, it was an incredible change; it’s very difficult to express in words what this place means to my family,” says Mastin.

Daystar is a day program for children under the age of 5 with complex medical conditions. “Children at their very core, it doesn’t matter if they have a feeding tube, a tracheotomy, if they take 10 medications a day… they want and desire to have the same opportunities to learn, to grow and to shine than everyone else,” says Kim Condon, CEO of Daystar Kids. . Special education teachers, nurses and therapists respond to children’s needs and help give parents the respite they may need to work, run errands or just breathe without worry.

“This is the only place like this in the state, and I think you’ve built a model that can be replicated across the state, the need is great,” said Dr. John McDonald, commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. , said Friday in announcing the $3 million grant.

Daystar is not yet expanding everywhere. But it’s expanding locally, into a building twice the size that will accommodate twice as many children. Currently, there are 60 students enrolled; once the expansion is completed, it will be able to accommodate 130.

The hope is to have the new building operational by January 2026.

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