About Us
Lisa Wagner-Carollo is the Deaf and Disabilities Ministries Coordinator for Catholic Charities, Kansas City-St. Joseph.She is also the Founder of Chicago’s Still Point Theatre Collective and established Still Point’s outreach program, The Imagination Workshop, for adults with developmental disabilities. She has also worked with L’Arche and was one of the first two live-in assistants for L’Arche Heartland in 1987. She is also the author of Above, Along, Inside, and Through: Poems, Prayers, and Reflections, a spiritual memoir. Recently, she co-produced with Still Point Theatre Collective and Rush University Hospital None of Us Want to Stand Still, a film advocating for better health care for individuals living with developmental disabilities.
Barbara Penn, MA, MT-BC, is a board-certified music therapist who retired from a distinguished career in special education. She served as a Music Therapy Internship Director in the Olathe District Schools and as an adjunct professor of Music Therapy at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) Conservatory. In addition to her academic and supervisory roles, Barbara maintained a private practice providing music therapy to individuals and groups, with a focus on people with special needs. Through this practice, she offered music therapy services to members of L’Arche Heartland. She currently continues her commitment to this community by serving on the board of L’Arche Heartland in Overland Park.
Moya Peterson was a clinical professor at the KU School of Nursing and the School of Medicine. She has recently retired from the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Her interests are in primary care across the lifespan, the primary care of people with disabilities (physically and mentally) children and adults and especially the primary care of adults with Down syndrome. She has established a clinic for adults with Down syndrome and currently has seen about 400 patients in that specialty clinic. It is the only one of its kind in the country staffed & administrated by a nurse practitioner. It also is one of the only ones in the Midwest that offers care to adults with Down syndrome.
She has had publications printed in national and state journals, and has presented at continuing education meetings on a variety of topics relevant to advanced practice nurses in the state of Kansas. She has also presented on the healthcare of adults with Down syndrome to many groups including health care providers and parents. She is the only nurse to be invited to be on the committee of providers that developed the Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down syndrome. The second edition of those guidelines is now being compiled.
Laura A. Gaffney, MD, is a Board-certified internist and pediatrician who specializes in caring for children, adolescents and adults with enduring health challenges that span their lifetime. She is the founder and clinical leader of AdventHealth Medical Group’s Special Pediatric-to-Adult Needs (SPAN) program, Kansas City’s only comprehensive, patient-focused primary care program for adolescents and adults with a chronic condition that persists from childhood to adulthood.
With more than 30 years of experience providing primary care for patients with special needs, in 2024, Dr. Gaffney transitioned to providing care exclusively for SPAN patients and their families.
Dr. Gaffney joined AdventHealth Medical Group (formerly Shawnee Mission Physicians Group) in 1997, and she established the SPAN program in 2019. SPAN is one of only a handful of programs in the nation whose scope includes care for all enduring health disorders and that also provides care for family members of these special patients, creating a true medical home for the family.
Throughout her career, Dr. Gaffney has earned multiple honors for excellence in patient care, including the Stewardship Award from AdventHealth (then Shawnee Mission Health), an Excellence in Primary Care honor, Kansas Hospital Association nominee from Advent Health 2024 and winner of the best Family physician Joco Post 2025. She also is a sought-after speaker on health care for individuals with special needs.
After earning her medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Dr. Gaffney also completed her internal medicine/pediatrics residency at UMKC.
In memory of Rosina Hendrickson
Rosina Hendrickson dedicated her career to spreading the Catholic faith as a religious educator, serving parishes and dioceses across Alabama, Texas, California, Iowa, and Illinois. Nationally recognized as an expert in intergenerational religious education, she brought children and adults together in the love and knowledge of God, strengthening the faith of countless individuals throughout her ministry.
She served as Training and Events Coordinator for Liturgical Training Publications in Chicago while concurrently working at St. Thomas the Apostle Church as Coordinator of Family Faith Formation. Her exceptional knowledge of Catholic faith, traditions, and resources, combined with her witness to Christianity and Christ’s love for all people, made her a valued presence in every community she served.