Bethany's Children's Center Shining Light For Ill Kids

Darren Brown, News 9

BETHANY, Oklahoma -- The Children's Center has been a fixture since Bethany became a city, and it's known nationwide for its care and success in treating children with medical and physical disabilities.

The Children's Center was born out of one woman's compassion more than a hundred years ago. Mattie Mallory was changing trains in Oklahoma City on her way to a teaching assignment in 1897 when she found her life's calling in Bethany.

"She saw all these orphans around the city, and stopped right in her tracks," said Scott Copenhanger with The Children's Center. "She had this epiphany and said, 'I need to help these orphans.' That's the beginning of The Children's Center."

Over the decades the orphanage evolved into a hospital for young polio victims, a convalescent center, and eventually to the state-of--the-art hospital it is today. The center offers a wide range of therapies designed to serve children with complex medical and physical disabilities. It's the largest employer in Bethany, and the community has always rallied around to make sure that everything is okay and in the children's best interest.