Janelle is 6 years old and attends the day care Bibito Pin. This organization falls under the SVGA (Stichting Verstandelijk Gehandicapten Aruba) and Janelle is sitting there in a small group with 5 other children and teacher Tatiana. At Bibito Pin every child is stimulated on his or her own pace to develop further.
Janelle has not talked nor walked independently yet due to a brain disorder since birth. She is now often transported in a stroller and her mother Janette is negotiating about being awarded a child size wheelchair. Despite her limitations, Janelle enjoys going to the day care to play with the other children there and during the breaks at school she likes to cycle on a tricycle, because Janelle has already learned to ride a bicycle.
Janelle lives with her mother Janette. Behind the house and on the side of the house there is a beautiful garden and her grandmother lives in the house next door. Especially for Janelle, they have built a staircase and a ramp at her house so that she is able to enter the house with her stroller and soon with her wheelchair.
Janelle gets physiotherapy 1 x a week at Bibito Pin and 1 x a week at home. The physiotherapy is given by pediatric physiotherapists from Micky’s Foundation. She practices learning to stand and walk with a walker and she needs the rollator to help her with her balance. She also needs day and night splints to give support to her ankles and keep them in proper position. Janelle doesn’t talk very much. She can say a few single words and is carefully learning more words every day. She understands a lot that happens around her and what is said to her. Soon she will be attending speech therapy in Aruba but this therapy is not covered by the insurance company AZV. However, AZV does reimburse wheelchairs which have to be requested at the doctor/specialist from the hospital. The company MartijnTrading will then arrange that the correct facility is provided and delivered. Splints should also be requested by a physician/specialist of the hospital, these are custom-made by the orthopedic shop of J.P. Visser.
Janette: “When Janelle receives therapy from Micky’s Foundation, you can see that she is happy and enthusiastic. She gets along real well with the therapists which is a great benefit to her therapy. Honestly I don’t know how it would have been had my daughter not got her therapy from the Micky’s Foundation. Because the foundation also provides occupational therapists and preverbal speech therapists to Aruba, Janelle also has shown progress in small motor skills and pre-verbal communication.” Today, on this International Children’s Day is Janelle our ‘Angel of the Day’.
Micky’s Foundation
The Micky’s Foundation has been in Aruba for 7 years. It has pediatric physiotherapists from the Netherlands and regularly too pediatric occupational therapists and preverbal speech therapists. The work of these care providers is on a voluntary basis against an expense allowance and exists as a supplement to regular care in Aruba. In the Netherlands for physiotherapists there is a follow-up course (Master’s degree) up to pediatric physiotherapist. There has also recently been a similar follow up course for occupational therapists. Speech therapists already receive a lot of knowledge about the treatment of children during their own education. All therapists who work for Micky’s Foundation have specialist knowledge and experience with the target group of the foundation: children and young people (0-21) with a physical and/or mental disability in Aruba. We are currently working with 2 pediatric physiotherapists for a period of 3 months. The treatments are partly done in schools and partly at the families’ home and is additional to the care that is already being provided. The therapy offered to the children is totally free. The foundation is therefore completely dependent on donations.
For more information on Micky’s Foundation go to www.mickysfoundation.com.
