Western School of Communication Sciences and Disorders faculty members Sue Schurr and Taslim Moosa are leading a group of four clinical placement students to Peru to participate in a variety of preparatory teaching clinics.
Students Victoria Lewis, Adriana Lopez, Michelle Colli and Jana Zalmanowitz departed for Peru this morning to take part in this special clinical placement, which follows on the successful Peru clinical placement completed by three second year students and their clinical supervisor in August 2008.
This placement is a joint venture between the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Solidarity in Action (SIA), and Armonizar.
SIA is an international Canadian based not-for-profit social justice organization that has helped 16 Canadian universities and chaplaincies organize denominational and non-denominational social justice/academic solidarity trips, programs and experiences.
Armonizar is the first integrated initiative for the treatment of Cleft Lip and Palate in Peru. Its mission is to promote the physical, psychological and spiritual harmony of children with a lack of economic resources. The clinic receives clients from a wide catchment area and delivers a well-integrated service.
The organization operates with a small paid staff and large number of committed professional volunteers representing dentistry, genetics, paediatrics, social work and surgery.
Students were selected for the placement in January, allowing them time to coordinate the drive for donations and participate in a variety of preparatory teaching clinics.
While in Peru, the student clinical activities will include:
• provision of daily therapy (in Spanish) to six children and their families;
• provision of Spanish in-services to families – information regarding specialized feeding strategies, feeding, early language development and early literacy development. All services not currently provided by the clinic; and
• participation in the professional consultations provided to children and families, including otolaryngology, dentistry, genetics, surgery, social work and paediatrics.
As part of their trip, the group will be blogging and posting photos to a Flickr gallery to those back at Western a taste of their experiences.