It’s GO TIME for TEAM Guatemala! Let’s do a Toy Drive!

TEAMWorks China - January 13-15, 2016

The week in pictures and two great highlights to share!

The first exciting moment was when Cindy was able to teach sign language to a little fella and he picked up on the signs in less than 10 minutes!  His parents were beaming and CIndy was able to see him several more times this week!  Such a special moment to help a child with the gift of communication!

The second story starts when the group was in China in September.  Cindy traced a little one's foot for shoes and braces.  Between that trip and this one, the tracing was lost.  Cindy guessed as to how big his foot was and Lori picked several shoes/brace options to bring on this trip from the guess on size!  The first one that Lori pulled out of the box at home to bring on the trip fit the little boy's foot like they were custom made for him!  Such a special reminder of how God takes care of even the littlest details, including a perfect fit shoe/brace that traveled from Northwest Arkansas all the way to China...on a guess...and was a perfect fit!  

Please keep Cindy and Lori in your prayers as they finish strong and make their way back home! Prayers for continued energy, safety and health are appreciated!  

TEAMWorks China - Tuesday, January 12, 2016

We are excited to share that Cindy and Lori are serving in China this week at Dr. Lin's clinic.  They will be providing follow-up care to current patients and providing evaluations and assessments to new patients at the clinic.  We are thankful to continue to work alongside the staff at the China clinic.  Please keep the gals in your prayers this week as they love and serve our friends on the other side of the world!

TEAMWorks China - November 20, 2015

Coming at y'all live in the Beijing airport at 5:00 am!!

Fri-YAY!! We woke up and packed our bags. Hauling it like yaks up and down stairs, in and out of tunnels, to the 15th floor of the hospital. Carmen required several PT sessions throughout the day. We started off the morning with Carmen teaching on a variety of speech things, including tips for working with hearing impairments, vocal nodules, and how to administer a speech-language evaluation. The speech teaching session was completed with the therapists working on receptive language tasks. Amanda was the pretend child in the tasks, and she proved to be quite naughty at times, not following directions or attending to task.  This provided all of us with some good entertainment and the therapists with some very realistic training.

Julie was tying up some loose ends.. She revisited the little girl with the de-gloving injury and educated on positioning and massage for decreased swelling and on use of the splint. Cassie took selfies with the girl to calm her nerves.

Cassie, Julie, and Shannon treated a young girl with torticollis who had previously come in that week. She was still super spicy!

We thought we were at a coffee shop as we returned to the Indian restaurant for muffins and coffee.

After lunch, Shannon taught on NICU information to the three local pediatric therapists. We also had a review session to discuss any questions and concerns before saying our goodbyes!

And now here we are... Waiting to come home to America! With just a tiny bit of luggage.. God bless America!! Momma, we're coming home!

TEAMWorks China - Thursday, November 19, 2015

Coming live at y'all from the Beijing airport at 3:30 am. Our bellies are full of French fries and double cheeseburgers! We're trying to remember what we've done for the past two days! It's all kinda blurry so we'll hit the highlights! Thursday morning, Julie and Shannon went with Jonathan, a pediatric neurosurgeon, on his rounds of the entire pediatric floor, pointing out children for Shannon and Julie to see that day. They went to the PICU to see a tiny baby who had multiple surgeries. Shannon returned to work on proper positioning using bendy-bumpers. Julie went straight to work on making a splint for a 6 year old girl who had a de-gloving injury from a noodle machine accident. Not exactly what Julie thought she'd be doing that morning, but flexibility is key here. Hashtag TIC. Carmen and Cassie assessed a newly adopted child with CP from the orphanage we visited earlier in the week. He was full of laughter and happiness. Carmen worked with him on certain sounds and provided techniques to work on these sounds to his adoptive parents who are ex pats. Cassie assessed his ROM and provided strategies for improved ROM and strength. She also fitted him for a benik splint, and she guided a local therapist in kinesiotaping him for hip external rotation and plantar flexion bilaterally.

Later in the morning, Shannon taught a session on AFOs, utilizing the adopted child with CP from this morning. There were frequent comments about how similar the AFOs looked, and Shannon explained in detail the differences and uses of each one. While Shannon taught, Carmen visited the ENT department. She got to spend time with a British ENT, watching ear suction around a perforated ear drum, wax removal, and observe video fluoroscopy. She was able to make recommendations for a patient who has vocal nodules.

Meanwhile, Julie was still working on that splint... Cassie joined her to no avail. Dr. Willy, our former splinting professor, would be so proud!

We treated the local therapists to a traditional hot pot meal. We were all on the struggle bus trying to use our chopsticks during this meal, except for our fearless leader, Julie. Chopsticks and slimy hot pot noodles are a dangerous combination!

Carmen's afternoon was back in the ENT department, where she gave a PowerPoint presentation on tips for working with hearing impaired children and explanations for why a child who CAN hear might not be speaking within appropriate age ranges. Currently, the ENT department does not have an audiologist.  They test hearing abilities but don't have much to recommend beyond normal hearing or hearing impaired. In all, there were approximately 10 doctors, nurses, and the department head at the presentation. The entire department was pumped to learn that they can refer patients to the therapy clinic in the hospital. The department head was so excited that she asked to be notified a couple of months in advance prior to the next trip. More doors opening to provide services to a wider array of children and adults with needs!  Praise, praise, praise!

Julie then taught on the PEDI to provide the local therapists with more standardized testing materials and to educate on age appropriate self care skills and mobility. Julie explained that while the PEDI is an evaluation tool, it can also be utilized for treatment strategies. With this evaluation being so concrete and straight to the point, the therapists were eating this up!

While Julie was teaching, Shannon treated a foreigner with pain from a previous knee dislocation. He was provided with a home program.

We wrapped up Thursday at the hospital with a session explaining and educating on everything we brought including fine motor and sensory toys, ADL equipment, speech cards and equipment, and the stander and gait trainer.

Thursday night was full of fun festivities including having dinner with the big wigs from the hospital and rocking out some karaoke with the local therapists. The big wigs presented us with gifts and showered us with toasts as they were very thankful to have us back this year! Cassie might have dropped the jade gift as it was being presented to her by the number one man in command. Oops! Everyone laughed, especially Amanda. Julie led the groups' toast expressing how thankful we are to be able to come and serve two years in a row and how we are excited to come back next year! We were then off to meet the therapists for KTV (KARAOKE)! We sang. We laughed. We danced. Ending the night, we presented gifts to all the therapists and highlighted their strengths. They then returned the favor!

TEAMWorks China - Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Wicked Cute Wednesday:

We're actually going to back up to Tuesday night. Carmen joined Julie and Cassie in their room to write the blog while Shannon turned in early.... What Carmen did not know was that Shannon accidentally locked her out of her room. So, sleepover it was!

Wednesday morning praise: we had water! Thanks to all who prayed. We were able to shower!!!!

Now onto the wicked cuteness!!!! We started the day with Julie and Carmen seeing 2 sisters they saw last year, they were doing SO good. Carmen gave some oral motor and articulation advice while Julie educated mom on visual schedules and social stories. Shannon and Cassie provided pain relief and a home program to a foreigner with a partially torn tricep. They then evaluated an adorable 5 month old baby and provided strategies to her mother for improving ROM and strength.

Julie and Carmen then led a teaching session on Down Syndrome and how to organize and implement a support group for parents of kids with specific special needs. This topic was mind-blowing to the therapists, to say the least.

We walked to an authentic Indian restaurant for lunch where Carmen actually ate a whole meal! In her words, she.. "PUT IT AWAY!"

Back at the hospital, we hosted our first Down Syndrome support group. Only one family showed, but you have to start somewhere right?! We were able to treat a one year old girl and provide sure steps, hip helpers, and a home program. She was thoroughly assessed by each discipline, and she was super partial to Carmen! Julie and Carmen also treated a 3 month old baby with respiratory distress and jaundice at birth. Cassie was able to provide leg exercises and energy conservation techniques to a patient with multiple sclerosis.

We ended the day at the hospital with Cassie teaching the therapists about Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis and treatment strategies for each condition. We're learning that the therapists here are BIG on interactive hands-on learning. It makes for some interesting teaching sessions!

What's on the menu for dinner tonight? You guessed it. YAK BURGERS! Third times the charm.