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Contact:
Claudia Monlouis
Monday, June 14, 2004 - A project marking a first step towards
integrating children with special needs into the Day Care programmes existing in
most communities around the island was launched in the community of La Resource,
Dennery on Friday, June 11th.
The project, which aims to provide care away from home for children with
developmental disabilities, was born out of a workshop funded by the Norwegian
Association for the Developmentally Disabled. The workshop, Services and
Community Creating Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities through Equality
(SCcope) provided special training to several participants.
Community Health Nurse Marcia Johny, who attended the SCcope training programme
said participants were challenged to return to their communities to implement a
community based rehabilitative project for developmentally challenged children.
For her part, she went on to establish the “Respite Care Project” for families
in La Resource and environs. “Respite Care,” explained nursed Johny, “provides
families with specialised temporary care and can assist in building skills
needed for independence. In many families children attend day care, pre-school
or are taken care of at home by their baby sitters while parents are at work or
are socializing. Respite Care provides these same opportunities”.
Ms. Johny said that she had been able to access the services of professionals to
provide specialised care for a number of different conditions, by collaborating
closely with the Child Developmental and Guidance Centre headed by pediatrician
and psychotherapist, Dr. Brigitte Schuling.
“This project aims at providing parents with a safe place to take their children
once a month in the initial phase, where the child will be given specialised
care and attention specific to his or her individual needs, while affording the
major caregiver an opportunity to carry out activities that would have been
difficult, if the child’s security and safety was at stake,” said Ms. Johnny.
She believed that with policy changes to facilitate education and training the
vision of providing day care service for children with developmental
disabilities could become a reality.
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