Linda Mortimore has worked in healthcare for over thirty years. She is a certified and registered Respiratory Therapist by trade. In addition to working as a clinician, she worked in the medical equipment industry as a distributor representative, regional manager, and manufacturer’s representative owning her own company. She discovered her passion after working with medically fragile children and their families at HealthBridge Children’s Hospital where she currently acts as the Director of Admissions, Marketing and Business Development. She founded Children’s Catastrophic Assistance Network (CCAN) along with concerned colleagues, parents, and volunteers after witnessing the hardships following a life altering event that children and their families experienced once they transitioned home. She also had a first hand experience of the difficulties families face, after helping her brother following a major head injury.  

lmortimore@childrenscan.org

 

Susan Seekatz - Secretary

Susan has a Masters of Science degree in Special Education with an emphasis on teaching children with severe to profound disabilities.  She has worked with students in the classroom and most recently, developed a school program for the patients at Healthbridge Children’s Hospital in Orange.  After years of witnessing the heartache of families in crisis, and years of wondering what could be done to assist these families as they transition from the hospital to a more “normal” life at home, and sharing so many family’s frustration at not having what they need to care for their child when they return home, she found a way to help!  She joined the CCAN board of directors in 2005 and looks forward to the day when families will not need to go without the equipment, the transportation, the advocacy, the information, the respite care and the financial support they need to make a better life for their child who has experienced a catastrophic illness or accident.

sseekatz@childrenscan.org

Adele is retired and a very proud grandma to five beautiful, healthy grandchildren.  She has four living children having lost a child in 1973.  She has been active helping non-profit organizations raise monies for children causes for over 25 years.

Her involvement in non-profit group fund-raising is geared toward benefiting children. Project Hope School, Beverly’s House and events for the Elks Lodge and The Emblem Club that benefited, Casa Theresa, House of Hope, Elks National Foundation, and California-Hawaii Elks Association Major Project, better know as the Purple Pig which helps children in rural areas that cannot get the medical attention they need, by bringing professional medical help to them.

In 1970 her middle child Dacia was diagnosed with an incurable non-malignant growth in the spinal cord that engulfed her brain. She had her at home for 3 years until she passed on September 6, 1973.  Adele was a single parent with 5 children, one of them terminal.  This is why CCAN has touched her heart and why she is here today.

agraves@childrenscan.org

Chris joined CCAN in 2008 after searching for just the right organization to contribute her considerable advocacy skills and immense creativity.  She began advocating for handicapped children and their families after giving birth to two children with Cerebral Palsy.  She experienced, first hand, how frustrating it is to navigate through the red tape to get the help needed to raise handicapped children
Determined , she became her children's advocate; legally, as their Regional Center case worker, educationally and personally. 

Chris feels particularly drawn to the CCAN mission of assisting families of children with catastrophic illness or injury in order to share her hard earned knowledge and experience.

cmartin@childrenscan.org.

Nancy Polites – Member At Large

Nancy is a Social Worker in various healthcare settings and a Life and Relationship Coach in private practice, serving individuals, couples and families throughout the United States.  She works as Director of Social Services in an Orange County hospital and consults in an adult day health center and HealthBridge Children’s Hospital.   She assists families of children whose needs vary from physical birth anomalies to life-threatening illnesses to catastrophic traumas. - auto accidents, brain aneurysms, cancer - to name a few.   She sees first-hand the devastating effects that take place in families’ lives when these unfortunate events occur.  Financial, emotional, physical tolls are taken and priorities in families become challenged.  Nancy’s 35 years of training and experience enable her to lend a valuable hand to CCAN and the efforts it intends to create for these children in need.  Nancy’s other endeavors include puppy-raising for Guide Dogs of America, conducting workshops on stress reduction and weight release, yoga instructor and looking for ways to have fun!

npolites@childrenscan.org

Frank LaMagna – Honorary Member

Frank LaMagna has spent his life serving the community in a variety of businesses over the years. He also acted as a political advisor and eventually ran for Congress. He has been with the Salvation Army now for over eleven years. Currently he acts as the Director of the Orange County Division of the League of Mercy, an outreach ministry that brings spiritual hope to the sick and shut-ins in hospitals, nursing homes, and correctional facilities. After providing much needed assistance to the children at HealthBridge Children’s Hospital, Frank felt compelled to continue his support by volunteering with CCAN.