Grant A Gift Autism Foundation seeks to grow operations at diagnostic center

A Las Vegas autism services nonprofit is fundraising for more staff following its takeover of a medical therapy and diagnostic center.

Grant A Gift Autism Foundation took control of the Ackerman Autism Center’s operations in late June, after about five years of acting as the center’s fundraising arm while UNLV Medicine led operations.

The Ackerman Center offers diagnosis, therapy, social support programs, vocational training and education for families of patients with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The organization intends to streamline the patient on-boarding process by making it easier to get on the wait list, get seen more quickly and create other efficiencies, it said.

“It allows us to really operate at what I call the speed of business, which allows us to bring quicker and greater care to our patients,” Peter Krauss, the foundation’s president and CEO, said.

The center has served more than 5,000 families since its inception, but it also has more than 5,000 on its waitlist, the foundation said. Krauss’ goal is to “exponentially” see more patients — primarily through hiring more clinical staff.

“The waitlist will never go away completely,” he said. “We have no fantasy about that because, unfortunately, the demand is always going to be there. But if someone were to wait a few weeks or even a month for an appointment, that’s one thing. We have people that have waited a year, 18 months and even two years for certain services. That’s the challenge and problem we’re attacking.”

Under the new agreement, UNLV Medicine doctors see center clients under contract.

Krauss said the foundation intends to use donations and major fundraisers to increase the staffing and support scholarship programs for some of the programs not covered by Medicaid or private insurance. He hopes that Grant A Gift’s annual gala, on Wednesday at Allegiant Stadium, will raise nearly $1 million to support the center.

Experts estimate that the average cost for parents with a child on the spectrum is $60,000 annually, including lost wages, according to advocacy group Autism Speaks.

“For a lot of families, that’s simply unaffordable,” Krauss said. “It’s frustrating for us as a city as vibrant as Las Vegas, a city with as much money as Las Vegas, (that) pediatric medicine in general, autism and those on the developmental spectrum in particular, are incredibly underserved.”

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.