HAOT/AHE OT society had our last meeting at Respire, Greasier. A lot of people were unable to make it in person do to lots of rain and timing but glad that Consuelo could join us by phone. We had 12 items on the agenda to discuss which left the meeting being around 3 hours long! We are excited about some opportunities to start helping as a society across Haiti. We have decided to meet every 2 months so that we can be more affective as a society moving OT and Therapy awareness forward in Haiti. Our first big project as a society is our ZIKA awareness campaign. As a society we are making a brochure that will be distributed to dr. offices and clinics across Haiti. The goal is that the brochure will be parent friendly. After further discussion we will make a Massage Handout and a Feeding Handout to accompany it. As many baby's born with Zika have a hard time being calmed and feeding difficulties.
ZIKA is a big concern in Haiti right now because it has been proven to lead to microcephaly and other deformities if a mother contracts it during the first trimester of pregnancy. In the last few weeks I have had 2 babies come to me who were born with Microcephaly. There is no way to confirm if the cause is microcephaly but I am thankful that the Miriam Center is a place that these moms can come for help. Please keep these 2 precious little ones in your prayers.
Meet Noel and her dedicated mother. This sweet girl stole my heart today! She is a 4 month old who is the size of a newborn. She was born 2 months premature in her home. It's a miracle she is alive with no prenatal care. She has lots of battles ahead as she has a heart that is in A-fib, club feet, contractures in both knees and hips, microcephaly and difficulty eating. I am excited to come alongside this mother and empower her to get her daughter the care she needs. Please pray for courage, patience, and energy, and peace for this sweet momma
Meet Noel he is a precious 18 day old boy who showed up at the mission this morning. He was referred to me by the doctor. I made his little hand braces and foot braces as she had club feet and hands. Pretty sure he has more going on than just what's visible. Please pray for his mom as she also has 11 other kids and Noel is not breastfeeding wells. Praying we can encourage and help this mom to care for Noel and help her thrive.
I was able to set up a meeting with Mr. Richard Romage, PT who is the President of the PT society of Haiti and also the Clinical Manager of Réhabilitation at the PIH/Zanmi Lasantè Hospital in Mirabalais. We had a wonderful time discussing the development of each of our associations and discussing how we could work together. I was very excited to find out about an initiative that has been made to form a sectorial table for Rehab in Haiti between the OT, PT, Rehab Tech, SCI, and PNO Associations. I did not know any of these other associations even existed in Haiti. Excited to meet up with everyone in August!
I am very EXCITED about all the collaboration that is taking place between all the Associations that are passionate about Therapy and the importance of spread awareness across Haiti.
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