Over the past seven years, I have had the privilege of working with this patient house, with four of those years dedicated to serving as our club’s ‘champion.’ During this time, the house has undergone significant transformations, and numerous patients have resided there while awaiting treatment at the hospital.
When I first visited the house with RTN Mike Lake, the typical group consisted of four to seven children accompanied by their caregivers, with occasional adult presence. This usually resulted in a maximum occupancy of approximately twelve residents. However, the current occupancy has increased to around twenty to twenty-five residents with occasional spikes of thirty or more.
Despite the changes in the patient population, we continue to adhere to our bi-weekly visit schedule, complemented by ongoing infrastructure upgrades. These changes have necessitated adjustments to our visit activities. While we previously dedicated a significant portion of our visits to teaching basic English, the diverse skill levels among the current residents have rendered this approach less effective for certain age groups. Consequently, we have adapted our activities to accommodate a broader range of interests.
A few months ago, I introduced the practice of engaging in puzzles during our visits, and it has proven to be immensely popular among all age groups. The children benefit from assembling simple puzzles, while the older participants, including a young boy who has lost an arm, have demonstrated remarkable patience and skill in completing puzzles using their hands. Our initial visit in October was designated as a ‘puzzle’ day, where all participants were provided with puzzles to work on. Notably, seen here with Colleen Boud, this young boy completed several puzzles despite his impairment.
During our second visit, a group of up to six individuals diligently worked on a single twelve-hundred-piece puzzle. Although they did not complete it during our visit, they proudly displayed their completed work on our second visit. This puzzle, along with several others, including some basic children’s puzzles, will be weatherproofed and mounted on the north wall after our wall painting project, scheduled for late December. Further details will be provided in subsequent bulletins.
Our second visit marked the commencement of a series of Christmas Art visits. During this visit, colored pencils, crayons, pens, and other art supplies were utilized to create Christmas sketches provided by RTN Bill Pierce. Several freehand drawings were also completed on sketchbooks.
This month, we also hosted a third small, unofficial, yet highly significant and joyful meeting. On Sunday, October 27, I had the privilege, along with RTN Andrew Boud, of presenting four Dell Notebook computers to the Burma Children’s Medical Fund. Klao Wongsingsak, the manager at B.K. Kee House, represented the organization. This is the third year that Mazars International has generously donated Dell computers to BCMF. We extend our sincere gratitude for their support.
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