Maria Ayuda's Hogar for Children with Cancer

Hogar Oncológico Felipe Rivera de María Ayuda

This special little home in Ñuñoa is a refuge for children from outside of Santiago who are undergoing cancer treatment at Calvo MacKenna Children’s Hospital.

For several months, a small group of IAC volunteers have been visiting there on Wednesday afternoons. Sometimes we play games with the children and their mothers. On other days, usually related to a holiday, a Craft Party is organized. The most recent craft activity centered around Chile’s Independence Day and Armed Forces Day holidays.Peggy Peseckas designed a poster board Chilean Flag to be filled in with fluffy pieces of crepe paper to give it a three dimensional look. Empanadas and a beautifully decorated and delicious carrot cake, also contributed by Peggy, were served at tea time.

In the past the IAC has made many significant contributions to this little home. In 2009 the ceilings on the first floor were all repaired and painted. In 2010 a new kitchen sink and cabinet were donated as well as two child sized wheelchairs.

Recently the Hogar has extended its services to include, cardiac, renal transplant and other non-contagious illness patients. As a result, the IAC was asked to donate the construction of a new, additional bathroom to be used by the mothers. There was a shortage of bathrooms in the house for the number of residents and often the mothers had to leave to the hospital for the day without having had a chance to shower. The project was approved by both the Charity Social Services Committee and the IAC Board of Directors. Construction has just been completed.

 The bathroom turned out better than anyone had imagined. It had to be built from scratch in a corner of the service patio.  The director, secretary, tias and most of all the moms, were so grateful and excited about this new addition to the house. On Friday afternoon they were planning a special little bathroom inauguration party. The ladies planned to drape toilet paper across the doorway to take the place of a “ribbon cutting” ceremony! Everyone was all smiles, and very thankful to the IAC for this practical addition that will make such a difference in their day to day lives. Teresa, the director and I were standing in the service patio area, putting hooks on the shower curtain when I noticed water flowing across the floor. “Oh NO!”, I thought. Something must have been poorly installed in the bathroom and has struck a leak. NOT so. It turned out to be an overflowing wash basin that a mother had plugged and accidentally left the water running. She had been distracted when she went to check on her daughter. WHEW! What a relief!
This bathroom is a reminder of just how valuable IAC donations and charity fundraisers are to the community.

The home has also received many generous donations this year by IAC members. Some of these donations are; beds, a clothes dryer,a refrigerator/freezer and toys. I would especially like to thank Marilyn and Patrick Hanley. On leaving Chile they donated many valuable household items to several of our Homes. The beds they donated to Maria Ayuda made it possible to furnish a small room for dads to stay in when they are able to visit their children. The amazing new side by side refrigerator/freezer was also very much appreciated.

By Laurie Bennett Greene

Colegio Hellen Keller and the 4th annual Case Ronde Ski Program

The 4^th annual Case Ronde Ski Program has ended with another successful month for 9 children at Colegio Hellen Keller.  Volunteers from The Friends of Helen Keller, teachers from the school and instructors from La Parva work with the children to make the experience a memorable one. The program is an annual event that occurs once a week over a four-week period.  This program was started by Nicky Howe and Pat Hodges four years ago and they both are still very active in this program.

The instructors from La Parva have received special training in order to work with these students by Case Ronde who lost his battle to cancer several years ago. The instructors guide the students with ski poles, their own hands or verbal commands to go left or right depending on how advanced the student’s ability at skiing is.  La Parva instructors donate their time and the Pa Parva donates the ski equipment which allows Friends of Hellen Keller to just raise funds for the transportation.

We had 6 skiers and 3 other students had the opportunity to just go up to La Parva and play in the snow.  Most of the students have never even been in the snow before so this was a wonderful experience.

Volunteers from Friends of Hellen Keller donate their time and prepare fabulous lunches to make this a complete outing.  All the students had a great experience and said they will be talking about this experience for years to come.

Hands On at Hogar Paz y Alegria

IAC Member Candace Conger and her Therapy Dog, "Whiskey" have been visiting the folks at Paz Y Alegria in Batuco for a few months now. Many of them love to pet Whiskey and reaching for him and stroking him actually gets them a tiny bit of excercise. Mostly, he, (and Candace), make them smile. The youngest resident, (Rosmery)is a quadraplegic with cerebral palsy. Whiskey nudges his nose under her hand and and does a sort of self service petting, which makes Rosmery laugh. For Candace and Whiskey it's a beautiful moment.

  Paz y Alegria is a home for the abandoned aged in Batuco.  It was opened about 30 years ago by Mother Teresa.  Since then, her Sisters of Charity have operated it.

  It is a little challenging to volunteer there because the sisters don’t want anyone coming on a regular schedule.  They don’t want anyone feeling obligated to come and prefer that visitors come when the spirit moves them and they have a peaceful heart.  That being said, they still want a call the day before visitors come to make sure it’s all right.  Also, the sisters will not ask for anything because they believe that God knows their needs better than they do and that He will provide.  They fiercely protect the dignity of the people in their care, and photos of the residents are strictly prohibited. 

  Betty Furber, another IAC member, has been volunteering at the home for decades.  Through IAC member donations and her connections with local thrift shops, Betty collects car loads of donations.  She lovingly washes and mends all the usable items and takes them when she visits.  What they can’t use there, the sisters give to others in need.

  On one of my visits, 3 of the men were going in a van to get their carnets renewed.  They were all beautifully groomed, dressed in fine suits and had polished shoes.  Anyone seeing them outside of the home would never guess they were frail and abandoned, they carried themselves with such dignity. 

  Although the sisters and a small staff of workers do the bulk of the work, many of the residents have little jobs, like setting the table.  All of the able ones help get everyone else to the dining room and in one way or another they all look after one another. 

  As with all of our “hands on” opportunities,  we volunteers go with the idea of helping and serving the less fortunate, only to realize we are the ones truly blessed by the experience.

Blessings,

Pat Hodges

Fundacion Crescendo Initiates New Service Delivery Model

At the start of 2011 Fundación Crescendo, one of IAC’s  Hands-on Projects, initiated a new means of service delivery to adults with intellectual disabilities through their  "Centro de Apoyo Psicosocial"  (Center for Psychosocial Support) located in Dr. Johow 411, Providencia. Solange Vallejos joins the staff of Fundación Crescendo as General Coordinator for instructors and support services personnel to provide workshops and professional psychosocial support instruction to improve the independent life skills and capabilities of the adults with intellectual disabilities who participate at the center. Participants’ programs are based on “Planes Individuales de Elecciones” (Individual Choice Plans) that are person-centered and focused on meeting the individual interests and intrinsic motivations of the participants.

The goal for the comprehensive service is to help the participants achieve the maximum development of life skills, to promote self-determination and autonomy, and to promote a better quality of life and social inclusion. The staff working with the participants and their families facilitate the adults with intellectual disabilities through three “tallers” or workshops that comprise the newly designed Centro de Apoyo Psicosocial. The first is a series of Elective Workshops that provide opportunities for development in specific areas, according to the individual interests of the participants (e.g., computers, drama, literature, zootherapy, among others). The second, Individual Support Workshop includes activities that develop self-confidence and encourage self-determination. The third taller is “Transversales” or General Workshops that develop self-advocacy and communication skills of the participants as they address issues or topics of direct interest to the participants.  This last taller’s goal is to develop the participants’ autonomy assuring each that their opinions are valued.

Fundación Crescendo has taken seriously their work on developing the self-determination skills of their adult participants. Participants of the Centro de Apoyo Psicosocial are active members of the newly formed Red de Vida Independente y Inclusiva en la Communidad” (Network for Independence and Community Inclusion- RedVIIC ) a coalition of foundations and support service agencies whose goal is to assure community inclusion and self determination for persons with intellectual disability. Recently on March 23, 2011 three participants and five family members from Fundación Crescendo had an opportunity to learn more about self-determination, independence and community inclusion by attending the seminar, “Cuidan@s y Discapacidad Intelectual” with international speakers, Dr. David Coulter of Harvard, Dr. Mary Cerreto of Boston University, and Dr. Donna Martinez of George Washington University, now residing in Santiago.  The seminar was developed by “Shana Harrison, Director of Fundación Crescendo serves as coordinator of RedVIIC.  Also in attendance were eight of Fundación Crescendo’s staff members, including teachers, administrators and therapists.  They joined the more than 400 other professionals and students in the disability field, government administrators, policymakers, as well as ranking members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Carbinaros. The presentations were translated using simultaneous translation through headsets. The participants of Fundación Crescendo showed great interest in the technology mastering it quickly. Their attendance at the seminar demonstrated the caveat, “Nothing about us without us.”

To learn more about Fundación Crescendo visit http://www.crescendo.cl/

To learn more about RedVIIC visit http://redviic.wordpress.com/

Colegio Hellen Keller Trivia Night

The 6th in a series of very successful Trivia nights was held at Colegio Hellen Keller on Saturday March 12th, raising funds to provide heating for the students.  More than 1 million pesos was raised which will go towards the installation of double glazing in the coldest parts of the school. 

 Every Monday afternoon from 5:30pm to 6:30 pm a group of dedicated volunteers from the IAC conducts ESL classes at this government school for the blind in Nuñoa.  The students are delightful, ranging in ages from 5 to15 years.  Some are blind, some have low vision and some also have intellectual disabilities, so this is not ordinary ESL class.  The focus is very much on touching and feeling real objects to learn simple words and songs in English.  The theme for classes this semester is physical fitness which the students are really enjoying, using aids such as balls with bells inside, scooters and skateboards.  There are no pre-requisites for volunteering at CHK, other than knowing how to have fun. Members can contact Nicky Howe (see IAC contact list) if you´d like to know more.