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TILI TONSE CHILDREN’S REHABILITATION CENTRE PROJECT

 ScopeRehabilitation day care with residential facility for children affected with cerebral palsy, down syndrome

Need for the Project: To help in the rehabilitation/ intervention of children with Cerebral Palsy down syndrome and mental retardation from rural and urban areas of southern region of Malawi.

Theme :facing physical and mental challenges togetherWhat is cerebral palsyCerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. Cerebral palsy occurs when the areas of the brain that control movement and posture do not develop correctly or are damaged. Early signs usually appear before age three. People with cerebral palsy may have difficulty walking and performing fine motor tasks such as writing or using their hands. Many have other conditions that require treatment including mental retardation; learning disabilities; seizures; and vision, hearing, and speech problems. There is no cure for cerebral palsy; treatment includes medication; braces; and physical, occupational, and speech therapy.

Causes of cerebral palsy

Causes before birth

—  Infection of the mother while she is pregnant e.g. German measles shingles and rubella

—  Difference between the blood of the mother and of the child

—  Problems of the mother such as diabetes or toxemia of the pregnancy

—  Abdominal trauma for the mother during pregnancy

—  Multiple births

Causes during birth

—  Lack of oxygen at birth; baby does not breathe soon enough and becomes blue and limp. In some areas misuse of hormones to speed up birth narrows the blood vessels in the womb so much that the baby does not get enough oxygen, the baby is born blue and limp with brain damage

—  Birth injuries from difficult births, these are mostly large babies from mothers who are small or very young. The baby’s head may be pushed out of shape blood vessels torn and the brain damaged

—  Prematurity and low birth weight; babies born before 9 months and who weigh under 2 kilograms are much more likely to have CP

—  Abnormal birth presentation

—  Jaundice

Causes after birth

—  Infections like meningitis tuberculosis cerebral malaria

—  Very high fever duo to infection or dehydration(water loss due to diarrhea) it is more common in bottle-fed babies

—  Trauma to the brain

—  Lack of oxygen from drowning

—  Bleeding or blood clots in the brain often from unknown cause

—  Brain tumors ; these cause progressive brain damage in which the signs are similar to CP but steadily get worse

—  Convulsions/ seizures

—  Vision impairment

Families of children with cerebral palsy often incur high health care expenses, some, but not all. Some children may need medical and other special equipment. Their families also may need childcare, respite care, and other supportive services.

The project will provide various assistance programs for families of children with cerebral palsy and other chronic disabilities. These include access to rehabilitation services, developmental services; and child care referral.

Over the years various families have visited the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital with enquiries for residential facility and short term training programs. Being centrally located and easily accessible to most of the villages and towns and districts we hope that this project will become a hope for those children who have so far not been correctly diagnosed or guided about the rehabilitation process and training the child should go through, and what really the CP child is capable of doing.

Aims of the Project

  • To identify children with 
  • To provide professional, technical and educational support for rehabilitation and education.
  • To provide special training for parents to carry out therapy and  educational programs at home
  • To provide a place for temporary residence where parents can stay with their CP children during their training period.
  • To create awareness of CP among the population to dispel myths and superstitious beliefs about the condition.
  • To help the child avail the disability benefits.

The project will be an on-going project spreading wider to involve more and more remote areas in the country and it will be in phases

 PROJECT PHASES

Phase 1

Public awareness (intensive for 3 months)

Television broadcastings

Radio broadcastings

Mass meetings in the urban areas and villages

News papers

Bill boards pictures

Posters

Phase 2

Training (medical personnel from rural health centers, guardians)

Phase 3

Identifying cerebral palsy children and outreach clinics

Clinical officers, doctors and nurses to record cerebral palsy cases in their respective hospitals and clinics and report to our outreach team for follow up

Phase 4

Residential therapy and training

Outreach team will be referring those cases that need intensive attention to the center

The Plan of Action will be as follows

Identify Specific areas where there are CP children
A team of professionals visit the village and create awareness of the condition of CP through talks and videos.Sensitizing the communities on the causes of cerebral palsy
Children with CP will be identified and referred to the centre for further help.
Children will attend the centre daily however Parents from distant places who cannot afford to visit the centre daily will be accommodated at the center for a few days to get trained by professionals as to how to train their child/ward at home. They will receive a home based rehabilitation module which they will then carry out at home.
They will return at regular intervals with their child to continue the rehabilitation.
Owing to infrastructure and financial constraints, we are in the process of looking for a land to build this rehabilitation center for CP children so that we can reach out to many of these children who desperately need our support and thereby give them accessibility to the best training and rehabilitation they so much deserve.Objectives of the project

  • Provide multi-disciplinary therapeutic, educational and rehabilitation services to children with cerebral palsy, to help them realize their fullest potential

 

  • Integrate the more able children into mainstream education

 

  • Provide vocational training to those young adults who can be gainfully engaged, either through open employment or in a sheltered work-shop.

 

  • Provide respite care for the severely affected and dependent individuals
  • Provide a support group to parents and enable sharing of experiences

 

  • Provide the necessary training to parents and caretakers for better management of the child at home

 

  • Educate the public about Cerebral Palsy and the need for community participation, encourage the community to expose these children so that they should realize their potential so that  they can be fruitful to the country

 

 

Activities of the program

Public Awareness and Orientation

Parent Education and Counseling on handling and positioning of the child with cerebral palsy

Physiotherapy

Occupational therapy

Speech therapy

Play therapy

Early Intervention Program

Behavior therapy

The project will cater for children from the age of 6months to young adults, the center will contain an area dedicated exclusively for physiotherapy, speech therapy, disabled friendly classrooms, multipurpose hall, disabled friendly toilets and bathrooms, , wide corridors, separate office area and staff rooms and play ground. The children will go through their routine of physiotherapy, speech therapy, special education, play therapy , computer training , &vocational training (for young adults).

 Make Donations

Management of a child with cerebral palsy is a great challenge to all involved – it needs a multi disciplinary approach that includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, special education and psychological counseling in order to help children lead a more fulfilling life and help families cope better with the situation. This is still a relatively young project. No efforts are being spared to get established even though we have come a long way since the inception. Our immediate goal is to sensitize the nation, start day care services and outreach clinics and in the long run build a permanent structure for the residential rehabilitation. Maintenance of the organization and staff of course, is an ongoing challenge and it will completely depend on donations however parents will encouraged to make a minimum of K500 half day service for a month per child and K1000 full day for a month per child.

Various schemes of sponsorships are available for persons and organizations willing to contribute to make this center function smoothly.

 

1. Child sponsorship scheme – towards their rehabilitation fees
2. Annual special education and therapy sponsorship program: towards sponsorships for special educational and therapy aids and equipment’s.
3. Contribution towards the Building rentals

4. Transportation

 

We are in urgent need of support from individuals & communities like you to sustain and develop the much needed centre which will provide hope to children affected by cerebral palsy and their families in Malawi. So we kindly request you to

 

  • Donate generously
  • Sponsor a child
  • Volunteer your time
Staff Support

There is no doubt that skilled and committed staff will deliver services in a more efficient and more-effective manner. We will employ qualified and experienced Special Educators, Physio-Occupational therapists, Speech Therapists and Care takers

Conclusion

In conclusion we eagerly anticipate your whole hearted support in this endeavor which will greatl benefit those children who are entirely neglected by the society and make them realize their potential to become independent and productive nation builders.

 

Contact Us  

Tili Tonse childrens rehabilitation centre

P O box 51394 Limbe.

Cell: 0888357655 / 0999145920

0999342354/0996608901

Email : kastigumonica@yahoo.com

 

 

 

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1 COMMENT

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