Thu, Sep 20, 2018 page3

• Charities’ program helps thousands of burned kids

  SERIOUS MATTER: Without proper treatment, many of the more than 7 million children in Latin America who are burned each year cannot return to a normal life

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation and Nicaragua’s APROQUEN yesterday said a cooperative project they have run over the past seven years has trained more than 20 burn rehabilitation specialists and has helped tens of thousands of burned children across Latin America.

  The foundation, established in 1981, provides an extensive range of direct services — physical, psychological and social rehabilitation — for burn survivors and people with facial disfigurement, helping them to improve their quality of life, build confidence to participate in social activities and enjoy equal rights.

  With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foundation in 2011 began working with APROQUEN — a Nicaraguan nonprofit organization that provides free comprehensive and holistic care to children who have sustained burns and to people with cleft lip and palate — and launched a training program for burn rehabilitation therapists in Latin America.

  

  Physical therapists from nine Latin American countries learned to make splints for the rehabilitation of hand burns during a training program by the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation of Taiwan and APROQUEN of Nicaragua in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation

  At a presentation in Taipei yesterday, foundation chairwoman Ma Hae-shya (馬海霞) said the groups have trained more than 20 rehabilitation specialists, including physical therapists and skilled pressure garment tailors, and have helped tens of thousands of children through the program.

  More than 7 million children in Latin America sustain burns every year, and without proper treatment and rehabilitation, many are left with lifelong injuries and cannot return to a normal life, so it is a serious matter that should be addressed, Nicaraguan Ambassador to Taiwan William Manuel Tapia Aleman said.

  Through the program, both organizations have fostered the training of professional burn rehabilitation therapists in Latin America, he said, adding that APROQUEN has accomplished its slogan of “turning tears into smiles.”

  The foundation said that when it teamed up with APROQUEN in 2011, it discovered the nonprofit’s need to learn the technical skills of sewing improved custom pressure garments for burn survivors and rehabilitation of hand burn injuries, so skills training and knowledge-based analytical thinking courses were provided to local specialists.

  Over the 27 years since the nonprofit’s establishment, it has provided more than 557,000 direct, free medical services, including 36,206 surgeries and more than 270,000 physical therapy sessions, APROQUEN founder and president Vivian Pellas said.

  Taiwan is like a respectful little giant, because although it is a small nation, it has always been consistent and glad to share its technology and knowledge with developing countries like Nicaragua, she said.

  The improvement of pressure garments and assistive devices has allowed burn survivors to undergo fewer surgeries and has significantly changed their quality of life, Pellas said.

  She expressed gratitude to the ministry and the foundation for accompanying burned children and their families through the painful process of recovery.
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