LisaJoy
08-16-2011, 07:22 PM
I made it back from Romania yesterday afternoon. Had a great trip! For those who don't know, I went as a volunteer with Joni & Friends Wheels for the World. We did a wheelchair distribution all last week in the city of Brasov. We also gave away walkers, crutches, and canes. We served 173 individuals, about 140 of which received wheelchairs; many also got other assistive devices
About 1/3 of the people we saw were children, the youngest about 2 years old. We also served adults of all ages, up 90-something years old. Most of the children had cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. Maybe 6 had spina bifida. Of the adults, the most common problem seemed to be diabetic amputation, although we saw a little bit of everything -- Charcot-Marie syndrome, accidents, MS, severe arthritis, and many who just needed help due to age.
Romania has come a long way in the last 20 years (since the revolution), but continues to have issues with inadequate resources for the health system in general and services for people with disabilities in particular. Even people who are relatively prosperous often cannot get wheelchairs unless they are able to travel elsewhere in Europe, and the chairs are very expensive. The country has a shortage of physical therapists and no occupational therapy training program at all, so even if you can find a chair, getting it properly fitted is next to impossible. We even had people who were currently patients in hospitals coming to us from the hospital for chairs, because the hospitals can't get chairs either.
The problem for children is particularly acute. The national health system has a rule that each person can only get one piece of equipment every five years. We had an 11-yr-old boy with cerebral palsy who got a special toilet two years ago, but has now outgrown his wheelchair. He won't be eligible for another piece of equipment for 3 years, and that eligibility is just to get on the waiting list for a wheelchair. Many of the children had never had wheelchairs and had reached the age where they were getting too heavy to be carried all the time by their parents.
Some children were attending regular or special schools and a few were receiving physical therapy, but by far most of them had no access to rehabilitation services and were not in school because there is so little provision for disabled in the schools.
I met one man in his late 30s who has severe muscle spasticity (I think a form of CP). He has a PhD in French linguistics and teaches languages at a high school; is married and has a 2-yr-old daughter. His wheelchair had completely broken down from years of use & we were able to fit him with a new one. He really needs a power chair (which we didn't have), but most people can't use power chairs because the apartment buildings and houses are so inaccessible.
I LOVE Romania. The people are just fantastic! We worked with about ten local evangelical churches (various denominations), and a couple of Romanian disability organizations. A couple of local social workers brought us several clients, and one church showed up with a van of elderly people from a village (who were not on the schedule, but we were still able to serve them). The Romanian leadership of the project was just fantastic. We had at least 30 volunteers working the outreach every day and only 5 of us were from the US (all of the chairs were from the US). One of the coolest things was our translators -- 5 Romanian teenage girls, aged 15-17, were with us ALL day every day, and did a great job. They not only translated but ended up helping to adjust wheelchairs, cut foam for cushions, and sew straps.
About 1/3 of the people we saw were children, the youngest about 2 years old. We also served adults of all ages, up 90-something years old. Most of the children had cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. Maybe 6 had spina bifida. Of the adults, the most common problem seemed to be diabetic amputation, although we saw a little bit of everything -- Charcot-Marie syndrome, accidents, MS, severe arthritis, and many who just needed help due to age.
Romania has come a long way in the last 20 years (since the revolution), but continues to have issues with inadequate resources for the health system in general and services for people with disabilities in particular. Even people who are relatively prosperous often cannot get wheelchairs unless they are able to travel elsewhere in Europe, and the chairs are very expensive. The country has a shortage of physical therapists and no occupational therapy training program at all, so even if you can find a chair, getting it properly fitted is next to impossible. We even had people who were currently patients in hospitals coming to us from the hospital for chairs, because the hospitals can't get chairs either.
The problem for children is particularly acute. The national health system has a rule that each person can only get one piece of equipment every five years. We had an 11-yr-old boy with cerebral palsy who got a special toilet two years ago, but has now outgrown his wheelchair. He won't be eligible for another piece of equipment for 3 years, and that eligibility is just to get on the waiting list for a wheelchair. Many of the children had never had wheelchairs and had reached the age where they were getting too heavy to be carried all the time by their parents.
Some children were attending regular or special schools and a few were receiving physical therapy, but by far most of them had no access to rehabilitation services and were not in school because there is so little provision for disabled in the schools.
I met one man in his late 30s who has severe muscle spasticity (I think a form of CP). He has a PhD in French linguistics and teaches languages at a high school; is married and has a 2-yr-old daughter. His wheelchair had completely broken down from years of use & we were able to fit him with a new one. He really needs a power chair (which we didn't have), but most people can't use power chairs because the apartment buildings and houses are so inaccessible.
I LOVE Romania. The people are just fantastic! We worked with about ten local evangelical churches (various denominations), and a couple of Romanian disability organizations. A couple of local social workers brought us several clients, and one church showed up with a van of elderly people from a village (who were not on the schedule, but we were still able to serve them). The Romanian leadership of the project was just fantastic. We had at least 30 volunteers working the outreach every day and only 5 of us were from the US (all of the chairs were from the US). One of the coolest things was our translators -- 5 Romanian teenage girls, aged 15-17, were with us ALL day every day, and did a great job. They not only translated but ended up helping to adjust wheelchairs, cut foam for cushions, and sew straps.