A gift

Please forgive me for the lack of updates! I hit a bit of a writers block and rather than babble I just took some time off J

I have learned a lot about PT since arriving in Uganda. For example, it is hard to motivate a child to do just about anything when you don’t speak their language and are doing things that cause them pain… This has kept me thinking about how to do PT more effectively here.  Our babies are beautiful. Each one has either a physical or mental disability, most of them both.  They have fought hard to live and their parents have been their biggest fans.  I watched that time and time again with every family that walked into our department.  With each child I was more and more convinced that I need to be just as big as an advocate for these babies as their mamas are.  I need to believe that we increase their quality of life by helping them both physically and spiritually.  As passionate as I am becoming about this, I was still hitting a block on how to implement PT for these little ones.  I could go through the motions, but how do we make it come alive to the Mamas so that they grasp onto the idea of their child’s health and strive for excellence with them?  How do I make therapy ‘fun’ for these babies so we are not just making them scream as we do treatment… Derek and I talk about this a lot, and I started thinking that I may need more than a bolster for therapy.  I started looking at baby toys and started creating a list of “ wants” for our PT department. 

Last week a friend of mine called saying that her youngest baby had outgrown some of her toys and wanted to see if we could use it at CURE.  She began telling me that she had a Boppy, a Bumbo and a Bouncer ( I wonder if we think everything for babies must begin with a B?).  I could not believe this offer.  Those were the three ‘ top’ pieces of equipment I wanted for PT.  What an amazing gift, generous spirit and answer to prayer.

We went over to pick up these exciting toys and took them into work.  One of the first patients we got to use the Jumper on was a little girl named Harriet.  I have included pictures of her from February and then from this week.  I honestly felt like today both Harriet, her mom and I came alive.  We sat this little one in the bouncer and she immediately began weight bearing, playing with the toys and spinning around to each station.  Can you imagine the feeling moms? You have never seen your child standing and here she is smiling, standing, moving, reaching and playing!  It was SUCH a fun day to be a PT.  The mom was glowing.  I was amazed at what just a few pieces of equipment really could do. 

 

Thank you Joy for the amazing gifts.  Our babies thank you.  We truly feel blessed.