Disability Rights Philippines Project #44031

Life Changing Care for Disabled Filipino Children

by Cast Your Nets Ministry Inc

Project Report | Oct 21, 2020
Temporary Change of Focus Due to Pandemic

By Joel Jurasinski | Project Leader

As we mentioned in our last report, we have not been able to progress with our main mission as the Philippine government has placed severe restrictions on travel throughout the country. This makes our mission impossible to carry out as we can not get patients to and from the hospital in Davao in a reasonable amount of time. With that in mind, we have temporarily changed our focus to the following two areas:

Establishment of Physical Therapy services on our home island of Siquijor

Siquijor Island currently has no physical therapy center; however, we have identified two newly licensed therapists here on the island that have no established practice, and no place to practice. We have met with the Provincial Governor and he is willing to work with us on a plan to establish these services on the island. We have presented him a three phased plan to begin with the establishment of a small center in each of the six municipalities on the island, where we would furnish each with basic physical therapy equipment and the government would hire the two therapists to perform the services. Each therapist would work two days per week in three of the municipalities.

There is a new hospital building on the island that was just completed before the pandemic, it is currently being used as a COVID-19 quarantine facility for returning residents to the island. Once the pandemic is over, and the facility becomes available, Cast Your Nets Ministry will work with the Provincial Government to establish a larger permanent facility in the hospital.

Assist Local Community Feeding Programs for Under-nourished Children.

There are several neighborhoods in our area that have established government assisted feeding programs for undernourished children. We have become aware that these programs have great support in terms of manpower and enthusiasm but are severely underfunded and unable to make a difference. We have begun to work with one neighborhood to develop a plan to double or triple the feedings of these children and to improve the nutritional value of the food being supplied. Once we have developed a workable plan and budget, we will seek out more communities to assist.

We hope you understand the need for us to change our plans at this time, and we hope you understand that this will be a temporary change until travel restriction are lifted and we can continue our primary mission. We thank you all for your continued support!

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Jul 17, 2020
Ministry Status and Plans for the Immediate Future

By Joel Jurasinski | Project Leader

Greetings from Siquijor Island in the Philippines!

I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the status of our ministry and project this year. First, some Good News! Yesterday, July 7^th, we were able to get our last family home from Davao to Siquijor Island. The Maghanoy family (Father, Mother, and two handicapped sons) have been stranded there since February. They were due to come home in early March, but the islands have been on lockdown to local travel due to the corona virus. We have cancelled and rebooked them seven times on flights which were never allowed to fly, but finally we got them a commercial flight from Davao to Cebu. From Cebu, we were able to arrange a private charter flight to Siquijor, luckily everything worked out according to plan and they arrived safely in Siquijor. Now they must endure a 14-day quarantine before they can be reunited with their teenage daughter that did not make the trip. During these five months, your donations were used to support their living expenses on the island of Samal at a local NGO that takes care of handicapped children. You also made it possible for them to fly home to be reunited with the rest of the family. Thanks to all of you for your support!

Plans for the Immediate Future

Currently, inter-island travel has become a very difficult process due to local and national regulations to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Our original plan for this year was to make five medical trips to Davao, but that is no longer possible. We plan on spending this time working with the Tebow Hospital to establish a local clubfoot casting clinic on Negros Island, and working to bring a physical therapy center to the island of Siquijor. The establishment of a clinic on Siquijor will give us the resources to help children prior to surgery, and after we return from surgery. Currently there are no options on our island for physically disabled children to receive this type of care.

I would like to thank all our donors for all your support, without you none of this is possible. Also, I would like to thank our fundraising partner GlobalGiving for the grant given to our ministry which made it much easier to bring our family home!

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Apr 2, 2020
Ministry Update and the Effects of Corona Virus

By Joel Jurasinski | Project Leader

Ministry Update During Corona Virus Crisis

Greeting from The Philippines!

Effects of Corona Virus on Ministry Efforts

As we mentioned in our update of February 26^th, we “partially” completed our first surgical trip in early February. I say partially because we traveled to Davao with four children, all received necessary surgery but two children from the same family had to remain in Davao for follow up treatment and therapy. The two children that travelled home to Dumaguete are doing fine, both have had their casts removed and are currently receiving physical therapy at our partner organization, Little Children of The Philippines.

The Maghanoy family (mother, father, and two teenage children) who we left in Davao have now been stranded there due to community and island shutdowns throughout the Philippines due to the spread of the corona virus. The family was due to fly back to Dumaguete around early March, but by that time most inter-island passenger travel had been restricted to prevent spread of the virus. In one way, the boys have benefitted due to the time extension in Davao as they were able to receive addition medical attention and physical therapy at Tebow Cure Hospital, but that now has been shut down. This is causing emotional and financial stress on all concerned. Cast Your Nets Ministry is supporting the family remaining on Siquijor with food and monetary support during this time. We are also sending financial support to the NGO where they are housed to help offset their food and transportation costs. Moreover, the family is just tired and wants to come home, but it looks like they may have at least another month before things improve. Please pray for the Maghanoy family and their well being through this tough time.

Also, we have currently paused all planning for future trips until we have a clear picture of post-corona virus situation.

Progress on Clubfoot Clinic

During our clinic in Dumaguete in February 2019, we identified 19 children that were born and now living with Club Foot Disorder. As the current treatment for this involves four to eight weeks of serial casting, followed by surgery, this would require at least a two to three month stay in Davao which would prove to be a great hardship on most families. We have been working with the management of the Tebow Cure Hospital to find a location for a casting clinic in the Dumaguete area. With that, we could do all the pre-surgical casting in Dumaguete and limit the time away for surgery only, usually just one week. On February 26^th, the Director of the Tebow Cure Hospital travelled to Dumaguete and we met with him and our partners at Little Children of The Philippines and we identified a location on their property for our clinic. We discussed modifications for the facility and key issues about management of the clinic and a verbal agreement was reached. We now are in search of a qualified person to train for this task. We are very excited as this brings us one step closer to making this a reality.

Thanks to all who have donated to us and please rest assured that we are taking all precautions necessary to keep the ministry functioning through this difficult period. Please keep us in your prayers!

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