By Lucinda Kerschensteiner | Director
Our South African team spent time in Feburary in Newcastle, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa providing community training and clinical services to families. Thanks to the support of a Rotary International grant, in February we were able to: 1. conduct Let’s Talk Disability workshops; 2. assess 30 children with physical impairments; 3. facilitate clinical training with physio-occupational therapists; and 4. complete meet and greets with local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other disability stakeholders.
The purpose of the workshop was to sensitise the community to disability and allow a natural space to facilitate referrals and networking among community members, NGOs, and government institutions and facilitate knowledge exchange between participants.
Therapists who attended the trainings were mostly community service therapists, or permanent staff based at local special schools, tertiary hospitals or community healthcare centrest. A total of 14 therapists attended the workshops.
A total of 13 new devices will be procured through this project, and 3 children will receive new spare
parts to refurbish their existing devices. The total number of clients who will receive services (fitting/seating and maintenance review) during the next clinic is 17 clients.
The next steps will include social work referrals and preparing for the remote training component for parents and therapists. Parents identified through the workshops and seating clinics will be invited to online training This module will teach them how to apply positioning techniques using home resources. Therapists will gain further insights into how to appropriately prescribe and fit wheelchairs.
As a result of projects like this, we buid the capacity of communities, families and institutions to better serve and expand the potential of children with disabilities. Thank you for your support!
By Lucinda Kerschensteiner | Founding Director
By Lucinda Kerschensteiner | Founding Director
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