Let me introduce the SPEECH TEAM for Kabankalan- 2017!

Elizabeth "Betsy" Straka is a private practice Speech Pathologist from Colorado Springs! This is Betsy's 3rd speech mission to the Philippines! She was with the Speech Team in Dipolog, March 2015; Ozamiz City- April 2016; and now in Kabankalan for her 3rd mission trip with ICSF!  She has managed and worked as a full time Speech Pathologist at Straka Speech Associates, Inc since 1984! She hold's a Masters Degree in Speech-Language Pathology; her daughter followed in her footsteps and is also a Speech Pathologist!  Betsy says that doing mission work in the Philippines has been "life changing and has added a whole new layer to both my profession life as well as personal" and "it has made me braver in approaching opportunities"!

Marissa Habeshy... bio to come...

HOT HOT HOT...means REST after lunch!

Betsy, Theresa and Jocelyn had a futon-like couch to 'rest' on after lunch- but I didn't have a picture!  A "siesta" with a fan was great for all of us! Heat records were set all around the Philippines during Week 1 of the Speech Mission!

 

 

 

Warm wishes from Colorado children to Philippines!

Thank you to the children at Deane Elementary School in Lakewood, Colorado, U.S.A, for the beautiful cards for the children attending the cleft palate speech therapy mission in Ozamiz City, Mizamis Occidental, Mindanao, Philippines!The cards were so special since made by children from our "home"! The sentiments and well wishes were priceless! Pictures of mountains, snowmen and words of encouragement ..."be yourself!" "Feel better" and "good luck with therapy" ... To name a few! Pictures below are of the children reading their letters and sharing their pictures!!

  

PICTURES...T Shirt Painting Day!

T shirt Day was fun for all!
 We brought 40 white tshirts of varying sizes with us... with 24 patients, we were also able to provide t shirts for the siblings and the younger helpers too; each speech therapy student had to have a parent, sibling, or guardian to assist with practicing speech the 2 weeks.  Those who did not have someone to bring- were provided a helper from volunteers- often family members of the COHSEC staff! We had not anticipated the large staff that supported our 2 weeks, including 12 staff from the Community of Hope Special Education Center, adult volunteers from the community, and the Sisters of St. Columban who run the Center.  Additional t shirts were bought in Ozamiz so EVERYONE could join in the fun! 

T shirts were decorated with Sharpie permanent markers/pens and then dripped with isopropyl alcohol to set the markers! The alcohol drip makes for beautiful 'bleed' of colors!  Here are some pictures from the day(s) we designed the shirts; a future entry from our closing "Culmination Day" will show the children and most adults wearing their shirts!

 

Finally ... A blog entry!! From Tuesday April 19th (day 8):

Today's therapy (Tuesday April 19th here) really showed the level of progress that can be made for most of the children with a 2 week intensive speech therapy model!  Of course our reaction as in past years is that we'd love to have 2 more weeks, months, years for some - which is closer to what would be provided at home in U.S.! But the children, parents, volunteers and staff have worked very hard to accomplish so much in a short time!

Lots of busy days have left little blog time! And wifi is available in evening... When we crash relatively early!! But here's a few pictures to give a picture of our therapy days!

8 full days now of 2 sessions (sometimes more) of speech therapy, per child, per day! We have 22 patients with cleft palate repairs; additionally we see 2 other children from the Community of Hope Special Education Center (COHSEC) for daily speech therapy. When we finish speech therapy with our children with cleft palate ( usually about 4:30 or5) we have worked with other children from COHSEC with developmental disabilities,teaching their special education teacher (Lorena)and physical therapist (MaryFe) strategies for addressing speech and language development with their students! This has in some ways proven to be more challenging with such limited resources! There is no limit though on the compassion and commitment of the teachers and families at the Center! A shout out and thank you to the local speech pathologists and OT's in Denver for your donations of materials, toys, supplies and books!! They have been well received and put to use already!! 

We have only  2 days of speech therapy left! The first week seemed long (the record setting heat was the main contributor!) but now that we're nearing the end of the speech mission, we are sad to think about saying goodbye to friends made and children near and dear to our hearts! 

A few quick pictures from Sunday afternoon-screening day!

Screening day- Sunday afternoon after our arrival in Ozamiz City!  The children and families were so excited to get started with their speech therapy. So far we have 20 patients with repaired cleft palate for speech therapy, as well as about 10 from the Center of Hope Special Education Center run by the Sister's of St. Columban missionaries.  When we are working in the different cities around the Philippines, we like to assist the special education programs when possible. Since their is NO speech therapy available here, we feel it is important to bring speech therapy support to the schools or foundations supporting the children with special needs. The Hope Center has been instrumental in arranging the follow-up speech therapy for the children after their palate repairs. For the last 2 years, the mission has been bringing the patients to Dipolog City (4 hour drive each way) from Ozamiz to Dipolog!  With an additional 14 palate repair surgeries by Dr. Geoff Williams and the team from International Children's Surgical Foundation this past December 2015- there were originally 35 children pending speech therapy! About 12 children have been unable to attend the 2 weeks of intensive speech therapy; a few more are still expected next week for screening and possible speech therapy.

 

 Theresa Snelling and Jocelyn Noble, pediatric Speech-Language Pathologists from Lakewood screening a few of our younger patients! This is Theresa's 12th mission in the Philippines (her 7th with ICSF) and Jocelyn's first speech mission in Philippines; Jocelyn and Theresa participated in an ICSF mission to Pucallpa, Peru in 2013.

 

Betsy Straka, Speech-Language  Pathologist from Colorado Springs, Colorado, screening one of our older patients who's palate repair surgery did not happen until he was 15 years old!  Speech correction at this age is difficult, but no impossible as previous speech missions have shown!

This is Betsy's second speech therapy mission with ICSF!

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YES- we are hear and working- just not much time to BLOG in WIFI!