Due to the border closings the number of patients at the Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K. Kee Patient House has remained low, fewer than ten. During July, the restriction on outside visitors continued, but we continued to deliver care packages and learn of events at the House. Despite the smaller number of residents, including family members, there have been some wonderful events in July.
Patients, family members and staff are making good use of the small portable whiteboards that the club purchased, along with markers and erasers. As you can see, they allows residents to practice their writing, work on vocabulary and are a great way to share their work with the other patients and the person leading the activity.
The residents continue to have the opportunity to engage in leisure activities such as BINGO for prizes. (Wrapped prizes are a part of the care packages we deliver.)
The grounds work, including tending the garden, continues at the direction of employee Klao. He has been busy overseeing the landscaping projects and is making sure that the garden beds are being well tended. It continues to be an enjoyable activity for the patients and their families as well, allowing them to be physically active and engaged.
One of the major success stories has been that of a young girl who has been at the house for many months waiting for an operation to remove a rather large tumor above her nose and the area directly above it. You can see the before and after photos. She is one happy girl and has also enjoyed making good use of the workbooks that CMIRC has supplied for all of the younger patients.
The final event to report on is that employees Klao and Mi Aye had an opportunity this past holiday weekend to travel to Mae Sot and provide an overview of the B.K. Kee Patient House to 13 staff and 2 interns at the head office of Burma Children Medical Foundation (BCMF). The presentation included informing staff about the various activities, referral process as well as how staff address problems at the house and the complexities of transporting patients to and from the hospitals in Chiang Mai.
Just as I was writing this story, I learned that we can resume our regular visits to the B.K. Kee House, every other Sunday morning, starting on August 9. We meet at the Shell Petrol Station on Huey Kaew Road at 11 am. Interested? contact Bill Pierce depeche41@aol.com