Ukraine, Oct 2012 – Day 3

We traveled this morning to a neighboring city, where they warmly welcomed us at their special needs school. We arrived early to set up and families were already lined up waiting to see us. We dove right in and started evaluating and ended up seeing over 45 children. One of the remarkable stories involved a teenage boy who was first seen by us in 2010 at which time he was carried in by his mother. In 2011, he returned and received a wheelchair from us. This trip, he was able to take independent steps with a walker. He told us that walking was his biggest wish! We were also able to give a wheelchair to a 9 year old girl, who instinctively began moving the wheelchair on her own. Her mother was so happy and said she could not believe her daughter was able to do this. We enjoyed watching her leave independently.

Ukraine, Oct 2012 – Day 2

A team of 3 therapists visited the Children’s Hospital today. We started out in the NICU, where we reviewed positioning techniques and taught oral motor techniques to improve feeding. They were also receptive to the idea of curtains for the bright open windows in the NICU, and we are having them made to be delivered later this week. We were very encouraged when they asked if we would visit a different part of the hospital to examine a little girl with a cleft palate. Connie was able to give them great ideas for helping this little girl.

Ukraine, Oct 2012 – Day 1

Our 4 missing bags were delivered to our hotel late Monday afternoon. We were so so thankful! We started out with Day One by returning to our home base orphanage where we were warmly welcomed with hugs and smiles. We saw many of the children we had visited on previous trips and did follow up on education and adaptive equipment. We saw great progress in some of the children we had worked with the previous year who were very weak. The caregivers have been very receptive to suggestions and have helped the children become stronger through positioning and play.

We also had the opportunity to meet several children that were new to the orphange. We were allowed to see more children and had access to more rooms than ever before! We look forward to sharing updates about our final day at Antoshka tomorrow, and at the children’s hospital. We appreciate your continued prayers!

TEAMWorks has arrived in Ukraine!

TEAMWorks Ukraine Fall Trip, Coming Soon!

TEAMWorks Ukraine will be traveling back to Ukraine! Our TEAM of 6 therapists (physical, occupational and speech) and 1 trip coordinator will take off with 14 suitcases full of educational materials, equipment, toys and supplies along with wheel chairs and walkers on September 29th! We are very excited and thankful for this trip. Our plans for that week include providing ongoing education and care for the children with special needs in our “home base” orphanage, spending a day in the local hospital helping in their NICU and orphan ward, and spending several days working with children with special needs and their families. We know that many of these places and families wait on us from year to year, and we are so excited to see them again!

Please join us in praying for the trip. Specifically, praying for health and safety for the group, that relationships will be fostered and maintained, wisdom for each person as they work, and that we can show God’s love to all that we meet! In addition to praying, if you feel led we are currently raising funds to support the cost of the trip. All donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE and can be made by check or by PayPal, please follow the link below and click on “Give”

http://teamworksteam.org/

Guatemala – Day 6

Today was bittersweet. It was our last day at Anini and our last full day in Guatemala.  We were very productive today and were able to look at some chairs in a room not previously seen by last year’s team.  We were also able to fabricate a chair for a “favorite” who we felt we had not previously done justice yesterday.