WFOT PART 2-Congressional Meeting...Medellin, Columbia DAY 3-6

Day 4- 3rd Day Council Meeting

Wednesday morning we had council meetings till 1:00. Some of the highlight topics that were discussed and voting occurred on was 

~OTION which is the an online forum for discussion that WFOT opened. 

~The minimum standards for education plan was approved

~Approval of new OT education programs from around the world were presented and voted on acceptance

~Discussion around Educational programme Institute for Disaster Management & Reconstruction (IDMR)

~Quality Indicators Project- used to defend quality OT 

~Each of the 4 program areas shared the projects that they plan on working on for the next 2 years so that each member of the council could choose which of the 4 areas we would like to be involved in. 

In the afternoon we went of site visits. We could choose from 8 different locations and sign up for 1. I signed up to go to The Diversity Foundation (Foundacion Diversidad). Only 1 other person signed up for this site visit along with me so it was a small group. When we arrived we were greeted by 4 Occupational Therapists and some of the other staff. We sat together for about an hour while they explained what their foundation is about and what they do. Below is the video of introduction that they played (It is in Spanish….). Foundation Diversidadis provides comprehensive care to children and adults with a variety of disabilities. They have Education, Rehabilitation, Pre-vocational and vocational programs. On staff they have 5 Occupational Therapists, 3 Speech Therapists, 3 Physical Therapists, 3 psychologists, 17 special education teachers, and 3 teacher assistants. They currently have 286 people enrolled in the foundation. The majority of their services are provided in a group setting. Majority of those enrolled come for 1/2 day of services. They have 12 groups split between 4 different houses. The groups are determined based on age, cognitive abilities, and physical abilities. They use the MEOW an evaluation tool created in columbia that provides an occupational profile. When individuals reach the age of 14 then enter into the pre-vocational programs and as they get older and based on cognitive and physical levels they will progress to the vocational program. 

After watching the video we got to take a tour of the 4 buildings and see each of the different groups in action. All i can say is WOW!!! What an incredible foundation! It is making a huge difference in hundreds of lives daily. I so wish I could share pictures with you to see each of the groups in action but I have been told if we took pictures we could not post them online in order to protect the children’s privacy. I will try to explain what each of the groups were doing while I took a tour so that you can get an idea of how Holistic this program in. The first group we went to see was a prevocational group. They were working on individual projects but in a group setting. They were various types of art/craft programs with varying degrees of difficulty. In this group they were working on various skills they would need later in life. The second group was working on writing, attention, memory, and focus as they were writing out the steps they performed to make their craft or project. The third group we saw was one of the vocational groups. They were making products that then are put up for sale by a company TQM. They then took us in another room where we got to see many products that they had made (you can see these posted below). The fourth group was an education classroom that was using a multi-sensory hands on approach to learning. The students had cut out of numbers in front of them and on each number they had to place the corresponding # of small objects somewhere on the object. The fourth group was a sensory desensitization room for younger children. On the floor they had garbage bags spread out and in each corner of the room they had different textured items that the students had to practice walking over. They had different textured tiles in 1 corner, shaving cream on the floor, rocks with shaving cream in another, and the final corner had saw dust. In the center of the room was water and soap to wash feet but the water had different textured items in them as well. This desensitization activity was aimed to help the students tolerate wearing a greater variety of clothing. The next room we visited was a group session that was a working on tolerating tooth brushing. The following room was a group relaxation/meditation room to help the kids calm down and be more in tune with their bodies. The next room was a group setting where they were completing a art project that involved using glue and various texture mediums. We got to see the speech therapist in action doing a 1:1 session and saw the physical therapist in 2 different settings. First in a 1:1 setting and later on doing a group gross motor/sensory treatment session. We visited a younger group of students 3-5 years old having a group multi-sensory play session. We saw 2 other multi sensory education classrooms. The first was working on writing and identification of their names where they were looking through magazines and cutting out the letters in their names. The second one was a group of students using an interactive technology learning system on a smart board working on simple math. We ended seeing 2 different life groups. The first was a younger group of students with intellectual disabilities who were completing a pretend play activity that imitated a small pizza shop. 4 students were sitting at the table ordering food. 2 students were taking orders and 2 were working the cash register. It was so cute and so many OT skills they were working on. The last group was pre-vocational group that had followed a recipe to make us pizza. What an amazing holistic and dynamic program they have!

That evening we went to an art museum for the evening. It was the Antioquia Museum. We saw 2 of Medallin famous artists. The first Artist was Fernando Botero (His biography is attached in one of the pictures). Many people say he is famous for painting "Fat people" but He disagrees with the statement and says the the paints people full of life. The second artist Punte De Junin. I took lots of pictures hope you enjoy them :-)

Afterwards I went out to eat with some fun OT colleagues from around the world!

Day 5- Program Planning Day

I chose to to join the program planning committee. So the first 8 hours of the day were spent with a great team of OTs those also chose to be on this committee.  We started out highlighting the top priorities of projects for the next 2 years and then split into sub-committees. I joined the team that is working on responding to the World Health Organizations (WHO) Action Plan on Disabilities. We are working to identify the Role of OT in each area to provide back to the WHO.

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This evening we had a wonderful dinner party. It was full of great conversations, lots of dancing and even the Limbo (thanks to the Caribbean Association). We got to see some dances from other countries as well :-) 

Day 6- Final Day of Council Meetings

Wonderful ending to WFOT council meeting this afternoon. We all circled up and held hands and sang together "we are the world" by Michele Jackson. It was a powerful moment having 40 countries of OT representatives holding hands and singing together. We went from being in a big circle and during the song we kept circling and making circles inside of circles. What a powerful moment thinking about the song and that We are making a difference around the world in the field of OT!

Afterwards we spent some time exchanging contact information and getting pictures with some of our new friends :-) What an incredible week getting to meet OTs from all around the world and be working together to further OT around the world!

In the evening it was PARTY TIME after a long but good week of WFOT council meetings. Some of us spent the last night on a party bus that took us around the city of Medellin, Columbia. We had music and dancing while we drove smile emoticon It was quite the experience. 

Along the way we stopped at an outside open museum that also had place to buy drinks. It had a beautiful of the city from up high :-)

I could not pass up sharing this video....while we were on the party bus. So the police horse dancing to the music. I thought it was cool. Unfortunately all the other videos showing the fun dancing would not load...the internet gave out... boo....

The whole WFOT Council meeting felt like once in a lifetime experience. I feel incredibly humbled and blessed that I got to experience it and to represent Haiti! I stand in Awe at the fact that Consuelo and I were able to be in Columbia representing Haiti since as of a year ago it was not even a thought of having a national OT society for Haiti and I knew nothing about the plans for the new bachelors OT program....(I will write another blogpost sharing the history and development of OT in Haiti how we ended up at WFOT).

LAST DAY....TRAVELS HOME....
The last morning Consuelo and I got up and packed. Since I had some extra room in my suitcase we went back to Exit which is like a walmart and I picked up a few more supplies to take back to Haiti. As we were leaving I got a McFlurry as I wanted ice cream once before going back to Haiti. It was so good! lol. Then we headed to exchange $ and then went to an authentic Italian Pizza place. It was so good! After that we headed to the airport to head to Miami. Unfortunately when I went to check in my suitcase was 10lbs over weight and so I had to do some major re arranging but thankfully between Consuelo and I we were able to get my bag down by 10lbs without losing anything. Then going through security I got pulled aside and my bags searched. The confiscated 3 cans of chicken because they were .5oz over the liquid allowment and they thought I had drugs in my suitcase but actually it was just the ankle and wrist weights I bought for therapy.

Now if that was all that happened on my travels home I would say it was adventurous enough but that was not even the start of my crazy...crazy...crazy travels back to Haiti... Below is a post I posted on Facebook on the way home....
"Wow!!! That's all I have to say... Got off the plane at 6:50 to go through customs. Customs was absolutely crazy...worse than I have ever seen. After waiting an hour and feeling like a herd of cattle. Customs got overwhelmed by everyone pushing and shoving and yelling they sent 10 officers to push us all outside again. As they were doing that the women behind me collapsed. She had been in line over 2.5 hours has diabetes and collapsed. Thankfully had a group of nurses and a doctor close. We got her stabilized and the airport said they called paramedics. Well an hour later still no one. We called 911 and finally 20 more minutes later someone came. By the time they came we had gotten her blood sugar up but she was struggling with nausea and vertigo they said she wasn't critical so nothing they could do. We eventually convinced them to take her to the hospital, note to self don't have a medical emergency inside customs. Please keep this women and her husband in your prayers they are going to call me later with an update. Meanwhile I am still making my way through customs."

It took a total of 3.5 hours to get through customs. After getting through Customs. Consuelo and I enjoyed a YUMMY Mexican dinner sharing some quesadilla's and tortilla chips. After that I was excited to be able to talk to my family on the phone but my US phone would not work. Thankfully FaceTime would work. So Consuelo and I found a nice corner that was pretty quiet to sleep in. There were a few people already sleeping on the floor in that area. So I enjoyed talking to my brother and then family on FaceTime. while I was talking to them I noticed someone sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag and a man sitting in the same general area. I just assumed they were together. The guy walked passed me a few times and even said hello. I didn't think anything of it until a few minutes later the guy in the sleeping bag woke up and was upset saying someone stole his phone. I then realized the guy was not with him and that actually he stole his phone. This incident led to me filling out a police report and trying to identify the man and find the missing phone. 

After this incident it was 12:00AM and our flight back to Haiti was at 7AM so we had to be up by 4 to go through security and exchange $. At this point I was a little nervous to curl up on the floor for a few hours sleep afraid that I might get robbed...lol but I knew I needed to try to get a few hours of sleep. It was freezing in the airport so luckily Consuelo and I thought ahead and kept our blankets from 2 different flights and packed all the warm clothes we had to layer. I did manage to get a few hours of restless sleep though :-) 

Then going through security in the morning I got searched again...this time they thought the ankle and wrist weights were bombs...lol note to self plan on getting search every time if you pack weights in your carry on...lol 

I was very thankful when I finally landed back in Haiti :-) 

WHAT AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!!