I recently began working at two very different centers for children with disabilities here in Lima. The first one is in La Molina, one of the most beautiful areas in Lima. The place is a dream. It is the nicest facilities I have ever seen. It is fully equipped with a heated indoor hydrotherapy pool, special rooms for ultrasound, electrical stimulation, a hydrocollator, and other very clean and very new equipment. The centre started out as a school and it is run by a group of nuns (see the La Alegria en el Senor on the right under "my favorite links"). 100 children attend each day from pre-kinder to grade 12. The students that attend have a wide range of diagnosis and are taught using the same curriculum as in the public schools. Those who can afford it pay for matriculation, therapies and the meals provided. Those who cannot pay are subsidized by scholarships.
Attached to the school is a therapy center where I have been working that is utilized by the students as well as the public. Each student has their own rehabilitation schedule and the therapist are organized and punctual. The environment is quiet and therapeutic while the children are polite and obedient. The adults treat the children with love and respect and in return the children treat each other with love and respect. This is something I have come to learn may seem obvious to most of us, but is not obvious to everyone, even some of those who have chosen rehabilitation as their career do not always treat patients with respect. Thankfully here, that is not the case.
I spend one day working on physiotherapy with the kids and one day doing occupational therapy. Like I said it is truly a dream place to work. I will try to post some photos soon!!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Finished!
I have finished my internship at Toñito and am officially a Rehabilitation Assistant! I have learned a ton on my placement and I will continue to come as a volunteer as I love the people and the experiences as well as practicing my spanish.
The latest thing I wanted to highlight some that I have yet to mention is around body mechanics. We spent the better part of 2 years of classes learning about proper body mechanics. It has been hard for me to apply this knowledge here as the plynths do not adjust in height, and many of the positions we are in during therapies are awkward no matter how hard you try to maintain proper body mechanics. As a result I tweaked my back, and the main Rehab Assistant didn’t come to work on Friday because she also threw out her back. I think with more modern equipment, transfer belts, proper transfers of patients, this problem could be addressed.
I have met some great people one of whom invited me to her home in the mountains. The following is not therapy related, but about my time in Ayacucho and a child’s point of view of life there.
I learned a lot from my friend’s nephew who lives in the house where she lives in the mountains. He invited me to take his dog out for walk, and being a dog lover I accepted. I learned more about his family and this previously very dangerous region in our halfhour walk to the center square, than in an entire day with his mum and dad. (He really liked to talk!) The region is known for its problems with terrorism but as of late, the problems have settled somewhat. As the boy and I walked with his dog, he told me about his fears of terrorism. His father was in the military that helped fight the problems. Most problems are drug related and occur outside the city in the surrounding areas. I asked him if he gets scared and he said yes, all of Ayachucho is scared. It was interesting to get the point of view of an eight year old that is growing up in this atmosphere. He is obsessed with talking about terrorism and wanted to know about terrorism in Canada. Any chance he got to pull out his imaginary guns and make machine gun sound effects, he would take it (which I suppose is typical of many 8 year old).
With the mother who had invited me to the mountains, I helped her continue therapy with her daughter who is my favorite patient. Even though it was a vacation for all of us, the work still had to get done! I have been working with this 2 and a half year old and her mother on specific goals since I arrived here in Peru. I am happy to say that the patient is now crawling very well, and the next step is to focus on exercises for walking!!
The latest thing I wanted to highlight some that I have yet to mention is around body mechanics. We spent the better part of 2 years of classes learning about proper body mechanics. It has been hard for me to apply this knowledge here as the plynths do not adjust in height, and many of the positions we are in during therapies are awkward no matter how hard you try to maintain proper body mechanics. As a result I tweaked my back, and the main Rehab Assistant didn’t come to work on Friday because she also threw out her back. I think with more modern equipment, transfer belts, proper transfers of patients, this problem could be addressed.
I have met some great people one of whom invited me to her home in the mountains. The following is not therapy related, but about my time in Ayacucho and a child’s point of view of life there.
I learned a lot from my friend’s nephew who lives in the house where she lives in the mountains. He invited me to take his dog out for walk, and being a dog lover I accepted. I learned more about his family and this previously very dangerous region in our halfhour walk to the center square, than in an entire day with his mum and dad. (He really liked to talk!) The region is known for its problems with terrorism but as of late, the problems have settled somewhat. As the boy and I walked with his dog, he told me about his fears of terrorism. His father was in the military that helped fight the problems. Most problems are drug related and occur outside the city in the surrounding areas. I asked him if he gets scared and he said yes, all of Ayachucho is scared. It was interesting to get the point of view of an eight year old that is growing up in this atmosphere. He is obsessed with talking about terrorism and wanted to know about terrorism in Canada. Any chance he got to pull out his imaginary guns and make machine gun sound effects, he would take it (which I suppose is typical of many 8 year old).
With the mother who had invited me to the mountains, I helped her continue therapy with her daughter who is my favorite patient. Even though it was a vacation for all of us, the work still had to get done! I have been working with this 2 and a half year old and her mother on specific goals since I arrived here in Peru. I am happy to say that the patient is now crawling very well, and the next step is to focus on exercises for walking!!
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