Thursday: Slavyansk

Today started off a little rough for me. Kym and Amanda are the two in our group that have been to Ukraine several times. We started the day by getting on the bus and realizing that Kym, Amanda, Olga (our translator) and Vova (our driver) were going somewhere else. SO we were on a bus with a bunch of people we didn't know, a few of which we had met the day before. This was not OK with me but off we went!

We were taken to a local gym and once again walked into a room full of parents and children. We split into groups and treated 40 kids before stopping for a late lunch.

These next pictures truly represent our day..All business, no messing around.

Enjoy our expressions

After we were done, we got on the bus to leave and a parent walked up carrying her child. We made them unload the bus so we could assess her as well.

Here are a few smiles for the end of the day

Alice and Carmen

Alice and Amy

All loading up for dinner!

Yes, there were 9 of us in that small vehicle.

Amanda and Kym delivering equipment and exercise programs to families we worked with Tuesday at the hospital

Amanda and Vova

We ate dinner at Milky Way

Wednesday: Slavensk

I know it has been 8 months but I am ready to blog again! I don't feel like I can blog about anything until I finish my Ukraine Trip so here goes...

Today, April 14, 2010, a bus picked us up and we headed to a preschool in Slavyansk. This was a first for the "Ukraine Trip" so no one was sure what to expect. We walked in, suitcases in tow, to a room FULL of parents and children. We setup into 3 groups and assessed kids all morning. We did manage to get lunch today, which consisted of cheese and crackers, as we were shown a video of programs the children in the school have been involved in. We then took a tour of the facility where we saw two special needs rooms. Children live at this facility until age 7, and most of these children do have parents who come and visit. We were also told the children are worked with throughout the day.

We went to dinner at the "Ukranian Restaurant" where we ate pickled vegetables, Greek salad, potato patties, and fried potatoes. Vova ordered for us during every meal and we ate what we were brought. Our meals involved a lot of potatoes. We then spent the evening making home programs for each child and sorting out our donations.

Introducing ourselves

Christie and I teamed the whole trip..Combo OT/PT

The braces were the most desired item of the trip for these families

Dr. Jim

Speech in action

This made dragging these walkers across the world well worth it!

Sneaking in a break!

The children's rooms

Presenting us with a gift

Wheelchairs and luggage back on the bus

Tuesday: Hospital

Tuesday in Ukraine began a little scattered as most of our days did. We arrived at the hospital planning on working in the NICU. We were all (8 of us, 3 translators, 1 doctor) taken to a tiny room where there were 2 babies. Kym and Christie demonstrated some positioning on them with a crowd watching. We then visited a few kids and their parents in individual rooms.

Halls in the hospital

We planned on spending the entire morning working in the NICU and were told that the afternoon was for some families who wanted to bring their special needs children to us to be assessed. After we saw 2 babies and 3-4 kids in rooms we were taken to another small room FULL of parents with kids waiting on us to begin assessing. We jumped in and spent the rest of the day going full force. We did manage to have an 8 minute break to eat some crackers at some point that afternoon. It was the first of many extremely chaotic days and was probably best that we didn't know how they day was going to go before it began.

We were able to help many kids giving home programs, hand splints, foot orthotics, fine motor toys, and a couple of standers, corner chairs and walkers out to these families.

This was one little guy who received a stander and he was SOO happy to be up in it.

Christie and I making foam wedges in our hotel room to take back to the hospital