Striving for Excellence in Therapeutic Care With great pleasure I take the opportunity to report about the outstanding work being conducted by our international Volunteer Therapists in our Dominican home. With the arrival of three new volunteers in the recent months we were able to not only continue but even extend the therapeutic programs and care that have been implemented in our Dominican home Santa Ana within the last three years. Starting in September physiotherapist Allison Clarc (United States) was handed over the physiotherapy program that was introduced in 2008 by Austrian volunteer Nina Holiczki and continued throughout 2009 and early 2010 by Nicki Blazynski (Germany), who tirelessly served our kids for more than one year and even came back after a short vacation in order to ensure the continuity of the program. Due to the sometimes small number of applications and yet the great need for professional and experienced volunteer therapists in the majority of our homes we couldn’t prevent a small time gap between Nikki’s departure and Allison’s arrival. Allison s arrival and activities were anticipated not only by those in charge of medical care but first and foremost by the kids who are now once more enjoying their daily therapies and the accompanying sweet taste of individual attention. Also continued is the Occupational Therapy program that was launched by Occupational Therapist Katharina Brehm (Germany). After she started in September 2009 and with the support of the Santa Ana maintenance department Katharina managed to set up a state of the art therapy room within one month. Occupational therapist Judith Janssen (Germany) now carries on the hard work and therapeutic strategy implemented by her predecessor. The benefit is proven by the incredible progress so many children make when attending the therapy classes and also evidenced in the individual progress reports prepared for each child. With the constant training and the use of a wide range of therapy methods and materials many children are able to improve their
concentration skills, learn the alphabet, distinguish between colors, count numbers, write their names and advance their fine motor skills. These achievements immediately influence the daily life of our children and have long term impacts for those who have a hard time in the regular schooling system by providing a taste of success and a boost of self-esteem. The therapeutic care in Santa Ana has been further strengthened by the arrival of Occupational Therapist Julie Poulin (Canada). Julie brings a lot of professional experience and keeps herself busy by supervising the activities, care and daily schedules of Casa San Mathias, our home for handicapped and special needs kids. She gives individual training to them and strives to share her professional knowledge with our local staff in order to achieve as much sustainability and transfer of knowledge as possible. NPH Dominican Republic and NPHI Medical Services are glad that with the newly arrived volunteers we again found the right-minded set of people and the necessary support, professionalism and dedication to meet the therapeutic needs of our children. With the arrival of Speech Therapist Janine Lütkereinke (Germany) in January 2011 the therapeutic team in Santa Ana will be completed and ready to provide excellent and holistic therapeutic care for the children in need at NPH Dominican Republic. Jan Weber, Regional Medical Coordinator, Haiti & Dominican Republic
NPHI Excellence in Healthcare For more information contact: Pilar Silverman at: psilverman @ nph.org
Design by: Monica Ger y, NPHI Information Officer