Parents of Children With Cerebral Palsy Pleads With Gov. Alex Otti to Build CP Rehab(s)

Alleviate our burden, build CP rehab, residential centre in Abia, parents of children with Cerebral Palsy begs Gov. Otti

Parents of children with Cerebral Palsy, CP have passionately appealed to Abia State Governor Alex Otti to build a centre designed to provide specialized full-time care options for cerebral palsy patients in the state.

Interacting with our correspondent respectively during the annual August Bootcamp of The Straight Child Foundation, TSCF in Umuahia, a widow, Mrs Rita Uche, Pastor Anthony Nwakanma among other parents lamented the unavailability and ever skyrocketing price of medicine for their CP children, said the construction of CP rehabilitation and residential centre, equipped with the needed facilities and manpower will help ameliorate the difficulties they are going through.

The Straight Child Foundation August Booth Camp is an annual event of the Foundation aimed at offering various support/intervention services to Children living with Cerebral Palsy, CP and their parents.

The parents also called on the government at all levels to partner and support TSCF to enable the Foundation boost its strength and capacity.

They appreciated TSCF for positively impacting the future of children with Cerebral Palsy by providing support, respite, parental empowerment and by educating the public through the broadcast media and advocacy visits.

Speaking during the event which featured CP support services, parents counseling sessions, physiotherapy sessions, experience sharing and other humanitarian and intervention services. the TSCF Vision bearer Dr. Mrs Peace Amaraegbulam, who explained that CP is a lifelong condition and it is  different for patient, said that Cerebral palsy affects people in different ways and can affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance.

She explained that Cerebral palsy refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination, and it is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain’s ability to control movement and maintain posture and balance.

Dr. Amaraegbulam who insisted that early intervention on CP cases would yield better results, decried that most parents show up in the clinic when their children are above two (2) years, because they observed that their child is not walking.

“TSCF has been lending its voice on the issues that affects children with Cerebral palsy, although we don’t yet have the needed support. But parents need to be part of our call for the government attention and intervention on CP matters. It makes more sense when the parents are part of it, and it will be easier to draw the attention of the government. The affected parents are better positioned to convey the severity of their situation better”, Dr. Amaraegbulam further pointed out.

In his lecture, one of the Resource persons, who is also a physiotherapist, Dr. Uthman Anjorin, who harped on early intervention for chronic health condition or developmental disability like CP cases, also said that it is important that young CP adults receive adequate healthcare transition preparation and support to optimize the transition period and transfer from paediatric to adult health services.

According to him, understanding the healthcare experiences of young adults during and after the transition period will provide valuable insights into what enables a positive healthcare experience for young adults in the adult health setting.

Earlier, Mr. Uchenna Egbe-Eni, from The Straight Child Foundation who exposed the parents to the basic therapeutic approach, interventions, and modalities of handling children with Cerebral palsy, pointed out that therapy plays a vital role in managing the physical impairment while optimizing mobility.