Center offers free physical therapy services
By Bernadette Parco
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 08:18:00 03/02/2008
While her twin sister does normal things 5-year-old children do, Honey Mae undergoes rehabilitation aimed at strengthening her muscles from the neck down so she can start sitting up by herself.
Honey Mae has cerebral palsy quadriplegia.
“She can hold items but she can’t eat alone,” said Honey Mae’s father, Edgardo Gonzaga.
Quadriplegia refers to a type of spastic cerebral palsy in which all four limbs are affected marked by stiff or permanently contracted muscles.
However, the severity of the condition will vary from child to child. Those with moderate spastic quadriplegia may be able to sit by themselves, walk short distances and perform similar tasks, while those with more severe cases tend to have great difficulty with the various aspects of day-to-day life.
Gonzaga said Honey Mae was born with the disability while her sister, Honey Lee, was healthy and normal.
A watch repair technician who works in Carbon, Gonzaga, 42, couldn’t afford the rehabilitation sessions with physical and occupational therapists that the doctors suggested.
Luckily, Gonzaga heard of the Our Lady of Lourdes Occupational and Physical Therapy Center in barangay Punta Princesa, Cebu City, that offers free therapy sessions for children and adults with disabilities.
Most of the workers at the center are volunteers.
During Honey Mae’s two visits at the center, she was asked to undergo electronic therapy conducted by physical therapist Mariel Banzon.
“We are using an electrical stimulator for Honey Mae to stimulate her muscles and prevent atrophy of her muscles,” said Banzon.
Her therapy sessions are presently aimed at strengthening her neck muscles.
“We have to do this step-by-step and we start with the neck so she can start sitting down on her own. And work until she is able to stand by herself. But this is a very long process,” Banzon said.
Enrique Balatero, 3, who has speech disabilities or communication delay problem, is undergoing speech therapy at the center.
“He can understand what we are saying but he can not express whatever is in his mind,” said Helen, his mother.
She said that since her son started seeing an occupational therapist in January, he was able to utter monosyllabic words.
It pains her, she said, that her son is cast out by playmates because of his speech impairment.
Glen Polistico, a social worker and the center’s manager, said they are presently attending 50 children with various disabilities and 12 patients that suffered a stroke.
“We attend to patients who have cerebral palsy, those who have speech disorders. We provide therapy for stroke patients,” Polistico said.
In a separate interview, Sr. Alexandra Maclean, the center’s directress, said the center welcome donations from generous individuals and patrons.
“They can give donations, we have a drop box for donations,” Sr. Alexandra said.
A member of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary congregation, Sr. Alexandra said the Our Lady of Lourdes Occupational and Physical Therapy Center was opened on September 2002.
“Sister Mary, who was assigned here at the time, was a teacher for children with special needs. She visited houses to find children with special needs with parents who did not understand their condition,” she said.
The nuns were assisted by the Salesian priests and were allowed to use a room at their property in front of the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish church.
Sr. Alexandra said they received donations from the United Kingdom and used them to buy equipment for the center.
“We are also lucky that we can send some of our families next door to avail of the feeding program of the parish, said Sr. Alexandra.
She stressed that the center offers seminars to the parents and relatives of the patients and encouraged them to attend.
“The whole family is involved in the treatment,” Sr. Alexandra added.
“Here we concentrate on caring for the mother and child,” she said, adding that this is because it is the women who have many things to do.
“They have household chores, they bring the children to school, some are single parents. They have many hardships and we want to help them,” said Sr. Alexandra.
The mission of the Sisters is twofold and is summed up in this phrase of our founder, Father Victor Braun: Jesus Christ and the Poor.
Based on the website of the nuns, their work is to “seek to bring the love and compassion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus into the lives of poor people who are broken, sick or in the margins of society, especially those not cared for by others. Never losing sight of their daily struggle, the nuns work with them to identify and transform underlying causes of suffering in a practical, compassionate way.”
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