photo by: Eric Ayres

Members of Wheeling City Council honored Dr. Ellen Kitts with a proclamation during this week’s council meeting, celebrating her 37 years of service as medical director of the Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center Inc. in Wheeling. Kitts is retiring today after decades of service to the community. From left are council members Ben Seidler and Tony Assaro, Mayor Denny Magruder, Councilwoman Connie Cain, Kitts, and Councilmen Jerry Sklavounakis, Ty Thorngate and Dave Palmer.

Members of Wheeling City Council this week honored Dr. Ellen Kitts with a proclamation, celebrating her career which included 37 years as medical director of the nonprofit Easterseals Rehabilitation Center Inc. in Wheeling.

Kitts is retiring today, and Wheeling officials joined together during this week’s city council meeting to publicly thank her for her many contributions to the community.

Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder extended “our heartfelt gratitude” to Kitts on behalf of the citizens of the city.

“Dr. Kitts has become synonymous with Easterseals, and her patients and their families will benefit from her expertise, attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile for years to come,” Magruder said. “May her retirement be filled with well-deserved rest and relaxation, and the knowledge that her life’s work has resulted in a legacy of love that has impacted thousands in our community and beyond.”

Kitts earned her bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and her medical degree from Indiana University. She did her pediatric residency at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and her physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at Ohio State University.

After traveling to see patients at Easterseals in Wheeling monthly for four years while completing her fellowship at D.T. Watson Rehabilitation Hospital in Seweckley, Pa., Kitts was offered the new, full-time medical director’s position at Easterseals.

On July 18, 1988, Kitts started in her role as medical director and “became an immediate asset to Wheeling and the surrounding communities given not only her unique specialty treaty patients with physical disabilities but also her remarkable manner of treating her patients — by taking her time with them, listening carefully to them and their family members and always working to find the best ways to help them live their lives to the fullest,” the proclamation noted.

As Kitts’ patients aged out, she expanded the scope of her practice to include them as adults. When patients began presenting with more than just physical and developmental disabilities — when she started seeing more patients with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — she adapted her practice to effectively treat them, as well.

Officials said Kitts has always found a way to respond to the community’s needs. She received a round of applause from those in attendance during this week’s council meeting.