Friday, December 5, 2003
|
Friday, December 5, 2003 |
|
CCSU sends professors to assist special-needs children in the Bahamas Clayton College & State University Assistant Professor of Physical Education Janet Hamilton will soon be spearheading a medical team that will be providing medical assistance and training to teachers and parents of special needs children in the Bahamas. The team will also be assessing students who may require physical therapy. Every Child Counts, founded by Bahamanian resident Lyn Major, is the name of the school where the team will be working. Major, who is also the director of the school, approached Hamilton on one of her many visits to the lovely island of Abaco about needing someone to come in and help her teachers learn how to best assist the physical and rehabilitation needs of the children at her school. Traveling with Hamilton is University of Connecticut Professor Dr. Ronnie Leavitt and occupational therapist Maital London-Levy. Leavitt and London-Levy both have previous experience with doing this kind of outreach in both the Caribbean and in Africa. The team is going to spend a week in Abaco from Dec. 8 through Dec. 15. The team will not be only seeing children at the school, but also in the outlying towns to the north and south where the children live too far away to attend the special needs school. Major originally realized there was a need for this type of facility on the island since there are no medical facilities to speak of on the island - other than a few private practice doctors. Any medical care needed by the residents must be done in Nassau (on the neighboring island of New Providence - about 100 miles south), or perhaps in Florida if the resident can afford to get there. There are no physical therapists on the island and the school is funded entirely by private donations. The team will be providing much needed training in several areas. They will instruct teachers on how to best meet the learning and physical needs of the children who suffer from a range of cognitive and physical disabilities. Through donations Hamilton has managed to raise the funds necessary to fly the three to Abaco and has obtained donated housing for the week they are there. “My hope is that I can continue to build the momentum so that we can get the specialists over there several times a year to help train the teachers, families and volunteers how to best help these children,” she said. “Because the school is funded entirely by donations means that they have no budget to hire in outside help, so the fact that these professionals were willing to donate a week of their time for free was key in getting this to happen.” Hamilton adds that monetary donations would be very welcome, as the school has very limited funds to buy things like wheelchairs, walkers, assistive devices, and various tools to enable the children to learn effectively. For more information, please contact Hamilton at 770-961-3668 or janethamilton@mail.clayton.edu.
|
||