The Holiday Season

I know, I know. Even for Ukraine where the Christmas season lasts until January 14th, a post about the holidays is long overdue.  The truth is that I had almost finished writing it just before our PT Training School session started two weeks ago, but I didn't manage to put on the finishing touches and post it. So now, rather than just scratch it altogether, I'll wrap it up. It's late, but hopefully still worth reading...

I enjoyed this season of celebrating our Savior's birth and welcoming the New Year and hope you did as well! Here are a few of the events of the season for us:

The exterior of the Agape Rehabilitation Complex was decorated "American-style" and it lit up the village:

In December, our ministry had the privilege of celebrating the baptisms of Vasya, Lida, and Yuroslava.  Vasya repented at camp this past summer and recently spent a month living at Agape, during which time he was baptized.  He lives in the village where the Fimiam Retreat Center is located (about 90 minutes from Lutsk), so we do not get to see him often.  But his spiritual growth is evident and we rejoiced to witness this step of obedience in his life. Please pray for him as he is the only believer in his family and he has a desire to be a witness in his home and village. 

Yuroslava (on the left) and Lida (on the right) are relatives of young people with disabilities who have been participants in our ministry for many years.  Yuroslava and her son, Bogdan, live in the same building where our first rehab center was located and Bogdan began rehab with us when he was around 2 years of age.  Over the years they have participated in more and more activities with our ministry and God graciously saved Yuroslava during this past year. What a blessing to reflect on the path God has taken this family on and how He has used various aspects of our ministry - from rehab to camps to crafts groups to Bible studies for moms - to plant and water seeds of the Gospel that eventually bore the fruit of repentance in Yuroslava's life!

Lida has been caring for her niece Ilona for several years now. Ilona had a brain tumor as a child and developed hormonal problems from the treatment that resulted in physical and mental disabilities. Her father left when she was young and her mother died several years ago, so Lida began caring for her. They have also participated in various aspects of our ministry for many years and during this past year God also graciously saved Lida.  What joy to witness these two women being baptized together!

Members of our ministry surrounding Yuraslava and Lida after their baptisms

For Sveta and I, Christmas Eve day was spent baking cookies and in the evening we took them to Agape to enjoy fellowship with our friends for a few hours.  

This year, for the first time, Ukrainian Protestant churches celebrated Christmas on December 25th! (Ukraine, along with Russia and some other former USSR countries, celebrates Christmas on January 7th traditionally.)Oh what fun for me! The sanctuary was packed for our Christmas service at Fimiam and we enjoyed "celebrating Christmas with the world" (in the words of our pastors).    

Christmas evening, Sveta and I invited our rehab family to dinner at our apartment.  Nothing fancy, but a good time of fellowship and food together outside of the work environment.  God has blessed us with these individuals not only as co-workers, but also as our brothers and sisters who we consider some of our closest friends! 

The final event of 2016 for our ministry was a Christmas/New Year's club meeting held on December 30 at the Agape Rehabilitation Complex.  Many former patients, several current or recent patients, and many other friends with disabilities attended.  We had fun together, ate together, played some games, and listened to the Word of God. 

with Lena

Our kitchen ladies - they have a great time together and serve us wonderful food too

Our rehab room turns into a large meeting hall for these events

 

The Agape Rehabilitation Complex closed for the week between New Year's and Ukrainian Christmas, so we enjoyed some down time.  The New Year brought COLD temps and several days of snow...which we have yet to see melt.  Here are some final pictures from around town during the holiday season:

Christmas morning walk to church

Winter wonderland in the park!

 

Lutsk city center

Dusk on a snow-covered morning

Happy New Year to all! 

May the Joy of the Lord be your strength in 2017!

Session TWO of the PT Training Center

The first class of students of the PT Training Program recently returned to the Agape Rehabilitation Complex for their second two-week session.  We rejoiced that they each passed an exam over the material from the first session (which is a requirement to continuing on in the program) and received a certificate of completion.  

Veeka - our OT student

Ira

Unfortunately, we lost a couple of students between the first and second sessions, but our soon-to-be Agape physician expressed a desire to listen so we gained a participant.  Of the six remaining students, four are training as physical therapists, one (Veeka) as an occupational therapist, and one (Natasha) as a speech therapist.  Since our program is focused on physical therapy,  Veeka and Natasha were given time for independent study after participating in the general lectures that had applicability in all three spheres.  

I am so thankful for these students!  They came each day with a desire to learn, an eagerness to participate and a willingness to forgive the mistakes we made in the teaching process.  They were patient when our village shut of electricity unexpectedly and we had to adjust our teaching plan and finish the day by flashlight. In addition to being able to maintain seriousness when needed, these students know how to laugh and make one another laugh, which made the long days of learning more enjoyable for all of us!

In this class are two students from other cities and we were excited to hear from them about their work since the first session.  Yura (the shorter man in the group picture above) is from Rivne and his church provided him with a room for rehab immediately after he returned home from the first session. He currently works alone and has five adult patients. He was SO excited to report what he has been doing, he kept me on my toes with questions throughout the session, and he repeatedly stated how valuable this training center is for him to continue learning and be better able to assist his patients. What a blessing and encouragement to my heart!  

Lena (in the orange jacket in the group picture above) is from Khmelnytskyi and her church has been providing physical rehabilitation for over a year.  Lena had no rehabilitation education or training prior to joining our program, but she has participated in camps for people with disabilities for many years, so she had already developed some skills in assisting people in wheelchairs.  Now she is also eager to learn and apply new knowledge and skills and she also comes with plenty of questions each day!

During this session we tackled some large topics such as gait, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, and posture.  There was an abundance of material to cover and the first week in particular was difficult for everyone.  But thankfully the students persevered and we saw them starting to learn and integrate the material following review and practice sessions.

Lectures are a necessary part of the program, of course...

But it's safe to say that we all most enjoy the times when we can be active, such as...

when learning the phases of the gait cycle...

Yes, our OT and ST students learned the phases of the gait cycle - why not?!

   

or when learning to assess standing posture...

or when practicing various skills that a person with a spinal cord injury might employ to move:

or when learning to take measurements to make recommendations for a wheelchair...

or when determining and then teaching one another how to stretch various muscles...

or when assessing our friends around Agape who use wheelchairs for proper fit and posture...

or when working with patients with spinal cord injuries...

We concluded the session with a written exam as well as a skills exam in which Sveta enjoyed playing the role of a patient.  

We rejoiced together that each student passed and then we had a time of prayer before departing. This class is now halfway through the program and will return in March for their third session.  We give thanks to God for how He is using each one of them as they use physical therapy to minister to people with disabilities in their cities!  Please pray for them to have wisdom and to recall what they have learned as they work with their patients and to have time and a desire to continuing studying and integrating the material presented thus far in the program.  

The second class of the PT Training Center begins their first session on January 16.  There are currently nine students enrolled, four local and five from other cities.  Three of them have been or currently are involved in our ministry, but we are not acquainted with the other six students. Although many of these students currently serve in ministries for people with disabilities, none of them have any education or work history in the physical therapy sphere. So please be in prayer for them as they continue studying the home material they previously received and throughout the session as they seek to understand and learn the material we present.      

Please also be in prayer for the teaching and translating aspects of this session.  My friend and fellow PT, Krista Burton, is coming from the US to participate and we are planning for Ira and Pasha (our therapists who are in the first class) to each teach one lecture and lead a small group during the skills session that follows.  Sveta has obligations to continue treating her rehab patients as well as traveling to another city for a continuing education course, so Tanja will be doing the bulk of the translating for this session.  Please pray for her to be able to recall the specific terminology of our profession.  And also please pray for her to remain healthy and for the physical and mental stamina she will need.  

I look forward to relating to you how God answers these and other prayer requests.  Thank you for standing with us in prayer!

Catching up!

Happy New Year to all!!  Sorry for the long delay since my last post. SO much has been going on that it will take a few posts to get all caught up, but I'll start with rehab.  We have been on quite a learning curve since beginning rehab in Agape in September and we continue to have much to learn and adjust as we move into 2017.  But God has been faithful in answering our very frequent prayer for wisdom and for that we are grateful!

Our current team minus Vadim

Our rehab center has always focused on providing physical therapy, but we have long tried (to the best of our ability) to implement components of occupational (OT) and speech (ST) therapy into our PT sessions when we noted that our patients had needs in those areas.  This fall, however, we began to intentionally schedule separate OT and ST with some of our therapists who have a desire to learn in these areas.  We have been tremendously blessed by therapists and therapy students in the US who volunteered or agreed to help educate our therapists.  We have been the recipients of educational material and equipment specific to OT and ST, had Skype consultations about our patients' OT needs, exchanged emails to learn more about ST, and participated in OT educational seminars via Skype. There is little to nothing to offer in Ukrainian in regard to these spheres, so we are so grateful for those who have stepped forward to help our therapists learn and grow and be better able to serve our patients.

Ira, Natasha, and Veeka learning about OT

Troy taught our therapists about dressing and rehab techniques for patients who have had a stroke. Ira, in particular, was so excited to learn this information and to apply it immediately in her treatment sessions.  Troy surprised us at the second session by bringing along a 2nd year student from his OT program who was born in Ukraine and was willing to participate in and translate the sessions. Pretty cool!

Natasha (pictured on the left above) participated in these OT seminars, but for now she is focusing on learning speech therapy.  She currently works full-time in Agape as a caregiver while she learns more about ST and we hope to utilize her more in the future.  She already has two patients that she works with twice a week and the potential for additional patients in the weeks ahead.

Veeka (pictured on the right above) is responsible for all of our office duties, as well as learning more about OT.  Over the past few months, she has been working consistently with a boy with autism and has a desire and plan to learn more about this sphere of OT.  She has also been assisting Ira during OT sessions with adults.  Starting next week, however, she will have her first adult patient with whom she is responsible for conducting a daily one-hour OT session.

It has been very encouraging to see our therapists growing, being stretched, implementing the education they've received, and becoming more confident in working on the OT and ST needs of our patients. We are immensely grateful for friends and colleagues from half-way around the world who have willingly given of their time, knowledge, resources, and energy to invest in our therapists and ultimately in our patients.  What a gift and what an answer to prayer!

Here are just a few pictures of rehab in November and December:

To date, the maximum residential patients at one time in our facility was five, but next week is scheduled to begin with six.  Each inpatient receives 3 hours of therapy a day, so it takes some time for Veeka and I to work out the schedule around the children and adults who come from Lutsk twice a week.  Because we just do not have enough full-time, skilled therapists to continue with outpatient and inpatient therapy, we are having to implement some changes in the new year.  First, we will focus the majority of our time and attention on adults residential patients.  Several adult patients who currently come on an outpatient basis will soon complete their rehab and we will fill their time slots with inpatients.  Second, children will now come once every two weeks for their parents to receive education on home tasks.  Each therapist will now have 4 children on their rotation, so we will actually be assisting a higher volume of children without requiring more time taken out of the schedule. It has been difficult for parents to learn about this new system of less frequent therapy though, as these children have definite needs and their parents have very limited places to turn for assistance.  So we continue to pray for God's provision of a full-time pediatric therapist.

We rejoice that God has answered our prayer for a physician at Agape.  Beginning next week he will work half-days at Agape, providing much needed medical oversight for our patients.    

Thank you for all of your prayers, support and encouragement in 2016!  It was definitely a year of tremendous growth and blessing for our rehab center and therapists and we eagerly anticipate what the Lord has for us in 2017!

The view from the rehab office on a beautiful winter day!