Today's lesson: Recycling is important

Monday is neuro clinic today which means we saw children with spina bifida ranging from 2 weeks old to 4 months old. One of the nice things about working in this clinic is that we are right beside either the neurosurgeon or the orthopedic surgeon. We all talk as a team and they explain what procedures they are going to do. More importantly they learn what we actually do as therapists.
Back home I feel some compartmentalized from the doctors and vice versa. They have learned from us as much as we have learned from them.

Recycling is important in all forms. We have been cleaning the clinic, getting shelves built, organizing the materials. In the midst of this we found a post card from a teenager from TN who sent 50 pairs of orthotics, all of which she had worn as a child due to herself having cerebral palsy.
Today, the cutest thing I have ever seen came into spina bifida clinic, Ruse, to see the neurosurgeon. This family traveled from Uganda which if you refer back to your maps you will see is a different country then Kenya. So, we better make Ruse's visit worth it and I think we did.

Ruse came over to the therapy side and his mother said the foot braces he was given are not working. So, I pulled from the "recycle" bin this young lady sent and boom Ruse has a new pair of braces. We then worked on walking and his mother smiled from ear to ear. We are all in love with Ruse. Such a happy baby.  We are trying to find the address of this young girl so she can see what her generous contribution has provided.


I feel like I have been here a month but it is only week two. Everyone is familiar now and we have a routine. I am missing home and missing George of course but sounds like he is doing okay without me. We visited the NICU today and Penny is going to do a presentation on positioning for the nurses. This place needs a constant rotation of specialists coming in. I heard a story tonight of a child traveling across the entire continent to come here. Everyday I am reminded of how lucky we all are to have what we need. I hope Ruse is going to do more standing tomorrow because a teenager with perspective knew that too and remembered recycling is important.  

Comments

  1. Byrd ParrishMarch 7, 2018 at 7:49 AM

    This story of recycling puts a whole new amazing spin on the whole importance of doing it. Hope you find the TN person's address. Ruse is PRECIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL!! And thanks to the girl from TN and you Ruse is going to be on the move in those braces!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Special needs clinic day and Nellie

Image
Today we hit the ground running as Fridays are special needs clinic day. I asked in advanced what that means and what to expect. I was told mothers travel for up to 6 hours and line up to to see the Physiotherapist. On most Fridays only one PT, Solomon, sees up to 30 kids in 3 hours which is maddening. Today we had one OT, one PT, one peds PT,one aide, and Solomon on stand by. At 9 am we thought, this isn't so bad and then we saw them. Mothers walking up to the clinic in African style which is to say these mothers carry their special needs children on their backs in long wraps tied tight to hold the child in. I am talking teenagers with cerebral palsy, on their mother's backs, for hours upon hours. Wow, wow, wow. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. These mothers are dedicated with a triple !!!! So, we spent time listening to them, talking to them, and doing what we can to help. Again, thank you to the vendors who sent supplies. The Faith Fund that supports this clin
Read more

"This is bad" but thank you Joab

Image
We said our goodbyes, gave our hugs and off we go.....screech....hault...a 4 hour traffic jam due to mudslides and roads flooding. More so , due to the very unique style of  driving here, cars come from everywhere to pass. There is no order, no control. 6 of us, including two children were stuck on the road in the Masai Mara for 4 hours.  Still 2 hours from a real city. I will be honest, I was nervous. It was getting dark and the rule of thumb is you get off the roads at night in Kenya. We sat there for hours, worried about our flights, about our luggage, about our safety. None of the adults would admit to this until we all got to the airport. In the middle of trying to calm the kids with funny stories, Preston who is 10, said " This is Bad".Well, he was right. We could not deny it and the driver, who is Kenyan, agreed. Finally, thanks to a Kenyan bystander who told us we had no other choice but to go off road and try and drive through the Mara we would still be there. Ken,
Read more