Mrs Veronica Hansen Nortey - Totally Inspirational

Today I met Mrs Veronica Hansen Nortey, Wife of Rev Hansen Nortey and mother of a 16 years old Annette who is Cerebral Palsy.

 Aunty Vero as she is affectionately gave birth to twins, on the third day after birth she noticed that the children had jaundice so she rushed them to the hospital, the doctor gave her some prescription to get for those three days babies, according to her, she visited many pharmacies but couldn't get the drugs meanwhile almost all the pharmacists she met were surprised that a doctor had prescribed those drugs for three days old babies.

 Then one of the babies started vomiting seriously, they rushed the babies again to Korle-bu, when they got to Korle bu they were told that the babies were severely jaundiced and needed an exchange transfusion, (they drain all the babies blood and give new one) this was done, later they were told that the children may delay in speech. 

One of the children died but Annette survived. Annette is now 16 years old, unable to sit supported, stand, walk or even talk properly. Aunty Vero later got trained in APT (Appropriate Paper technology) use to make special chairs and tools to support Cerebral Palsy (CP) children.

 Her vision is to have a creche for CP babies. she currently does wonderful chairs and tools for almost all hospitals doing physiotherapy in Ghana. She is totally excited about Project Eyram and I am totally inspired meeting her. 

Corporate Ghana we need your support and prayers. Support this worthy cause. Media colleagues help me highlight these issues, it is also about development. 

Someone ones said a society is developed when they look after their vulnerable well. Let's note that children with CP are super-intelligent, and can be anything in this world. Talk about this project to your family and friends.
Support a worthy cause

PROPOSAL ON PROJECT EYRAM- A PROJECT TO REACH OUT TO MOTHERS WITH "SPECIAL CHILDREN

PROJECT SUMMARY

Project Eyram is a project that seeks to reach out to Mother's whose children are Cerebral Palsy. As  part of the Reach Out Programme, the project is getting in touch with the mothers mentioned above. For the purposes of this project such mothers are referred to as "Special Mothers".

These Special Mothers will be encouraged to come out with their stories, share experiences and learn from each other how they have been able to handle their children so far.Thus the formation of a Parents Support Group for Cerebral Palsy Children

The Project will also seek the help of specialists such as Neurologists, Psychologists, Physiotherapists, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapist and bring them into contact with the Special Mothers for periodic training.

The aim is to enhance the mother's skills in handling the children and get other necessary information that they otherwise might not get when dealing with their children as individuals.

.It must be noted that these children spend more time with their mothers than any other person and equiping the mothers also means enhancing the child's opportunity to a better life

Such Training will be in the form of a one-stop workshop where the Specialists will take the Mum's through the basic skills in handling their children and it will be an opportunity for the mothers to ask all the needed and necessary questions that need to be answered.

Ultimately Project Eyram also seeks to influence policy on special children, with regards to education, health care, acceptance in society among others.

The project is also coming out with a book titled "The Unexpected" which shares a mother's experience with a child who have cerebral palsy, how society responded and how she has been able to deal with it.

The project has a facebook page: projecteyram  and a blog http://projecteyram.blogspot.com


PROJECT BACKGROUND

Many Children diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy end up being killed! Yes you read right, these children are sometimes referred to as "children of the river god" or snakes and their parents are advised to kill them by dumping them into a river or leaving them in the forest.

The parents are easily convinced to do this because our society shows serious stigmatization towards such children. Many educational institutions shun them, denying them their right to basic education.

These children are not treated well in most health facilities and they are just seen as a curse on families.

Most mothers are left to be frustrated with these children and they tend to hide these children till they die.

Meanwhile these children, thus children with Crebral Palsy given the necessary help can by anything in this world. It must be noted that children with Cerebral Palsy are intellectaully able to learn anything. They are able to think abstract and early interventions could help them have a relatively better life.

Mothers are the main focus in this project, most mothers with such children get depressed, many are persuaded to think that it is the devil that has attacked them and end up moving from one prayer camp to another or from one shrine to another looking for help.

Eventually these mothers do not do anything concrete to help their children. Project Eyram believes that once
the mothers are empowered, they will  be better positioned to help their children live a relatively better lives.
Hence the Reach Out to mothers to encourage them to share their stories and train them to give their children the basic therapies they need  to enable them practice at home with their children.

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Eyram has already started the Reach Out, we make personal contacts with mothers of such children, anywhere we are able to identify them.

We also visit the therapy centres like the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Physiotherapy Department, 37 Military Hospital Physiotherapy , Children's Hospital to talk with mothers.

We intend with the needed funding to provide needy mothers with the basic physiotherapy tools to work with in the homes.

We also hope to have periodic workshops, we call it a one-stop workshop where we bring together neurologists, pyschologists, physiotherapists, speech therapist, occupational therapists to give the mothers basic training in their field of work.

The reason is that mothers tend to spend more time with these children and with improved knowledge these women will be able to handle the children well.

We will also establish a call centre where mothers can call during working hours to ask questions and the mothers will be directed on where to seek help.

With the needed funding, we will also collaborate to celebrate days such as World Cerebral Palsy Day to draw attention to the issues and create awareness while discouraging stigmatization.

We will also embark on a media outreach programme, With the support and collaboration of the media we hope to avail ourselves to radio and TV interviews, newspaper articles among others to reach out to the mothers with information and to create public awareness

ABOUT CEREBRAL PALSY (CP)
CP is a permanent disability that affects movement. Its impact can range from a weakness in one hand, to almost a complete lack of voluntary movement.

There are 17 million people across the world living with cerebral palsy (CP). Another 350 million people are closely connected to a child or adult with CP. It is the most common physical disability in childhood

It is a complex disability: 1 in 4 children with CP cannot talk, 1 in 3 cannot walk, 1 in 2 have an intellectual disability, 1 in 4 have epilepsy.*
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CP is a lifelong disability and there is no known cure.


CONTACT
Mrs Hannah Awadzi (Initiator of the Project)
  Senior Journalist
Ghana News Agency
asomaning.hannah@gmail.com
0503878779