EVELYN Tumanda, a mother of 2 from Cabadiangan Loboc town in Bohol had only one Christmas wish in 2007: to prove God's healing work on her baby, two and a half year old Christine (not her real name) and make her like any ordinary girl. Christine was born with diaplegic spasmic cerebral palsy, a condition that would send her to do involuntary spasms and muscle movements due to motor coordination problems caused by permanent damage to specific brain areas, explains here therapist Haidee Cubarol. Christine, even when she was young already manifested spasms, involuntary movements, disturbed gait and mobility, abnormal sensation and perception, speech imparment and seizures, the older Tumanda said. Said to be “incurable in the real sense” Evelyn, knows that education and therapy coupled with applied technology can help children like Christine lead productive lives. Learning that Bohol Provincial Government has a partnership with Katipunan ng Maykapansanan sa Pilipinas Inc. (KAMPI) and the Danish Society of Polio and Accident Victims (PTU) in a project called Breaking Barriers for Children (BBC), Evelyn's hope of Christine's mainstreaming sprouted.
BBC provides free comprehensive community based rehabilitation services to poor children with disabilities who have disabilities, explains Ms. Cubarol, who also sits as BBC project manager in Bohol. The project works hand in hand with local government units and builds active networks with local partners like parents and guardians. It is this partnership that pushes us to do more comprehensive physical and occupational therapy, pre school education and support services, social skills enhancement and much needed services to those who could barely afford the expensive services from private institutions, she added. “From December 4, 2007 , we have never missed our weekly therapy session and we saw a huge improvement in Christine,” Evelyn recalls vividly. “Now, she is able to stand, talk and can walk when guided,” she shared in Cebuano during the turn-over ceremonies of the Stimulation and Therapeutic Activity Center (STAC) in Bohol March 24. Without BBC and their workers, my daughter's situations could not have improved, Tumanda said as she dispelled her own brand of advice; “If we persevere, we can gain something.”
“There are times when I have to borrow money to get us to the Center, but it has never discouraged me,” she said even as she knew her neighbors would always be one in her cause. Evelyn and Christine are just tow of the faces among the 461 cases of CWDs served by STAC Bohol since October 2007 to February this year. Other than children with physical disabilities, BBC also serves children with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity dis-order, attention deficit disorder, cognitive and mental disabilities, sensory impairment and extends medical and surgical intervention services to children. It has also provided 21 customized wheelchairs, 14 pediatric walkers, 48 orthopedic braces and screened 24 children with cleft lip or palate for operations. (PIA-Bohol)
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