When their daughter was born with cerebral palsy, Inju*’s family reached out to Operation Mercy for help through the community based rehabilitation project. As therapists visited their home weekly to assist with Inju’s growth and development, the family began to build trust in the Operation Mercy team. Eventually, they shared their dream of one day opening a centre for children with cerebral palsy to provide support for other families and opportunities for the children to be involved in sport. In 2022, amidst great ceremony and speeches from the local government and other stakeholders, the centre opened!
As children started visiting the new centre, Inju’s family asked Operation Mercy to assist with aspects of professionalism that they didn’t have the skill set for, including developing an intake form, setting individual goals, training on age- and function-level-appropriate games and activities within therapy, and developing the mindset of using daily living activities as end goals.
During one treatment session at the centre, Operation Mercy therapists watched as a little boy grew increasingly frustrated with the repetitive exercises the movement therapist was making him do. His frustration quickly turned to tears and then anger. The Operation Mercy staff then asked to practically demonstrate what they had been training the therapist in. They included a fun game into the session as they intentionally changed the child’s positioning and balance requirements. Soon the boy was laughing and willingly participating. Practical training like this empowers therapists to be more professional and to achieve better results in their treatment.
