Day 2: Pazapa

Today was our first treatment session at a school for children with special needs called Pazapa. Pazapa has a program where kids in the town can come with their caregivers to the clinic to get treatment from a PT or a therapy aide. The caregiver or parents stays with them while they are there and they learn better ways to help them at home. Today, myself along with Leslie, the other OT professor, led one team of students (Jeff-PT and Katie- OT) while Kathryn and Karen led the other team made up of Carli (OT), Maggie (OT), and Gopi (PT). Pazapa was amazing. The kids were so sweet and their caregivers were awesome to work with. One of the little girls we determined was developmentally delayed, two others had CP, and the last little girl had severe scoliosis. We explained to each caregiver as best we could in simple terms what caused their child to have these impairments, then taught them activities they could do at home to help them. 

We circled up all the moms with their kids and had a time for handling and instruction on stretching, standing, positioning, and handing. It was awesome. Pazapa had a storage container full of therapy equipment that was untouched because no one knew how to use it or what it was (tumble forms, Amtryke, standing frame, etc...). We were able to get one of the little guys into the stander and work on feeding with him to adapt the equipment to allow him to feed himself. It was awesome! Most of these children have a lot of oral motor and swallowing problems, but since food is scarse, people usually feed them whatever they have (which is normally always rice and beans). Many of them choke and aspirate on the food. Jeff and Katie got to see such a wide range of impairments and got to practice lots of handling with the kiddos. There was one little girl they had warned me about that hated everyone and didn't smile. They pointed her out and right when I walked up and started talking to her, she started smiling. The translator said it was because I was acting like a child... Sounds about right. 

Clinic ended at noon, and that afternoon we all went on a hike to Bassin Blue, a waterfall up in the mountains. It was beautiful! The water was so refreshing to swim in after being so hot on the hike.

That night we went to a hotel on the water for dinner. Again, beautiful! We bought souvenirs and ate Americanized food. It was glorious. And this cute little hammock was just in the most perfect spot. I'm having so much fun :)