Bobath News Issue 20

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The Bobath Centre entered its biggest running team yet in the adidas Women’s 5k Challenge, led by Bobath regular Liz Greeley. Liz was part of a 40-strong Bobath team joining 12,500 ladies in the annual jog through Hyde Park, London. “It was a really enjoyable day with a very friendly atmosphere,” said Liz. “The only downside was that I had to start at the back so that other people didn’t run into my electric wheelchair!” Bobath Centre reception staff, Jayne Maskell and Helen Hanson and therapy assistant Kim Shadbolt, also took part. For the second year, pupils and staff from Highgate Wood School in north London gave up their Sunday morning to support the charity. Each runner was challenged to raise £65 which they did by selling cakes, holding yard sales and asking friends and family to support their efforts. A few even ran with their mums. Fundraising manager, Kevin Gillespie said “The Women’s 5k is always a tremendous day out and everyone gets carried along with the enthusiasm of it all. Liz also set a great example for the girls, showing them that disability is no barrier to living life to the full.” Thank you to Liz and the team for raising over £2,300 for the charity. See page six for report and photos. THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BOBATH CENTRE Issue Twenty Winter 2010 Bobath NEWS Liz leads from the back! Thieves have stripped the lead from the Bobath Centre’s roof causing thousands of pounds of damage. Four hooded men broke onto the site in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday and used a commercial waste bin to climb on to the roof of the Centre. Once there they ripped out lead causing between £8,000 and £10,000 of damage. “This was very demoralising at the time because we had just spent over £50,000 replacing the leaking glass roof in reception” said Jayne Pearce, Bobath director. “However everyone has pulled together and with a bit of reorganising of rooms it was business as usual.” The theft initially went unnoticed until rain water started to pour in through one of the therapy rooms and the roof was inspected. Repair work has begun to prevent further damage and the lead has now been sprayed with “Smart Water”, a chemical containing a DNA type code that can be read under ultra-violet light making stolen items traceable to their owner. We would like to thank local residents who kindly donated £600 towards the costs of repair. The Bobath Happy Children Appeal See page 8 for details Thieves make the Bobath Centre smart Making a New Year’s resolution? Look on www.bobath.org.uk for treks, challenges and runs or call Sarah on 020 8442 2275.

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Bobath Newsletter Winter 2010 Issue 20

Transcript of Bobath News Issue 20

Page 1: Bobath News Issue 20

The Bobath Centre entered its biggestrunning team yet in the adidas Women’s5k Challenge, led by Bobath regular LizGreeley.

Liz was part of a 40-strong Bobath teamjoining 12,500 ladies in the annual jogthrough Hyde Park, London. “It was areally enjoyable day with a very friendlyatmosphere,” said Liz. “The onlydownside was that I had to start at theback so that other people didn’t run intomy electric wheelchair!” Bobath Centrereception staff, Jayne Maskell and HelenHanson and therapy assistant KimShadbolt, also took part.

For the second year, pupils and stafffrom Highgate Wood School in north

London gave up their Sunday morningto support the charity. Each runner waschallenged to raise £65 which they didby selling cakes, holding yard sales andasking friends and family to supporttheir efforts. A few even ran with theirmums.

Fundraising manager, Kevin Gillespiesaid “The Women’s 5k is always atremendous day out and everyone getscarried along with the enthusiasm of itall. Liz also set a great example for thegirls, showing them that disability is nobarrier to living life to the full.”Thank you to Liz and the team forraising over £2,300 for the charity.

See page six for report and photos.

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B O B A T H C E N T R E

Issue Twenty Winter 2010

BobathNEWS

Liz leadsfrom theback!

Thieves havestripped thelead fromthe BobathCentre’s roofcausingthousands ofpounds ofdamage.Four hooded

men broke onto the site in the earlyhours of Bank Holiday Monday andused a commercial waste bin to climb onto the roof of the Centre. Once there theyripped out lead causing between £8,000and £10,000 of damage.

“This was very demoralising at the timebecause we had just spent over £50,000replacing the leaking glass roof inreception” said Jayne Pearce, Bobathdirector. “However everyone has pulledtogether and with a bit of reorganisingof rooms it was business as usual.” The

theft initially went unnoticed until rainwater started to pour in through one ofthe therapy rooms and the roof wasinspected. Repair work has begun toprevent further damage and the lead hasnow been sprayed with “Smart Water”,a chemical containing a DNA type codethat can be read under ultra-violet lightmaking stolen items traceable to theirowner.

We would like to thank local residents whokindly donated £600 towards the costs ofrepair.

The Bobath Happy Children Appeal See page 8 for details

Thieves make theBobath Centre smart

Making a NewYear’s resolution?Look on www.bobath.org.uk fortreks, challenges and runs or callSarah on 020 8442 2275.

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Peter Cooke has beenco-opted as an advisorto the children’scouncil. Peter is anemployment lawyerand consultant withMichael Simpkins LLP.He is a regularspeaker at conferencesand writes onEmployment Lawtopics.

Stephen Latner, thechairman of thetrustees, welcomed theappointment:“Recruiting Peterstrengthens the skills-set of the council and we all lookforward to working with him”.

Peter has already made his mark by running in the RoyalParks Half Marathon for the charity.

We have a planThe trustees have updated the Bobath Children’s Centre’sthree-year strategy. The plan along with the annual report,accounts and clinical audit are available on the website.

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A D V E R T I S M E N T

In July, Christine Barber, director of therapy services, addressedthe Bobath 40th anniversary congress in Japan andacknowledged the contribution of Mr Katsumasa Kii, a seniorBobath tutor practising at the Bobath Memorial Hospital andMorinomiya Hospital in Osaka.

Mr Kii and Christine have been colleagues and friends formany years: “His tireless energy in training Bobath therapistsand promoting the Bobath concept is one of the reasons theapproach is popular across Southeast Asia” she said. Duringher visit, Christine led an advanced Bobath course at Osaka’sDevelopmental Rehabilitation Center.

Christine is an admirer of the Japanese system: “I amimpressed by the way the hospital has integrated patientservices. They have in and out-patient facilities and a therapyteam that can treat both adults with neurological conditionsand children with cerebral palsy. This greatly improves thecontinuity of care for patients.”

Our friends in the eastTrusted advice

Christine with therapy staff in Osaka

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Katy Perreault joins as an occupational therapist. Canadian-born Katy worked in children’s rehabilitation before moving tothe UK, and completed the Bobath training course in 2008. Sheworked in a community and special needs school in the NorthWest before moving to Bobath. “I wanted to work in anenvironment where I knew I could further develop my clinicaland hands-on skills, and work with families,” she says. “I feelvery privileged to be here.”

Sarah Smith has joined the fundraising team as the fundraisingand communications assistant. Sarah graduated fromCambridge and worked for the Burton Addiction Centre beforejoining the Bobath Centre. She is excited to become part of thefundraising team, “particularly at such a challenging stage ofits development. The Bobath Centre is a fantastic organisationand I hope to make many more people aware of the work theydo here.”

Good luck to Bobath Wales who have opened their firstcharity shop in Whitchurch, Cardiff.

Up and runningThe upgrading of the new Bobath website is finally underwayas part of the development of all the Bobath Centre’s internetservices.

IT co-ordinator Mike Veitch is working closely with staff on theinitial stages, but insists that the results will be user-led. “Weare focussed on designing a website that serves patients andcarers, medical professionals, the public and the media” saysMike. “The only way we can do this is by asking people whatthey actually want from a Bobath Centre website and not whatwe think they want. So we will be relying on supporters tohelp us get it right”.

The project is expected to be completed March 2012.

Charity focusCP Sport is a charity based in Nottingham providing sporting opportunities for people with cerebral palsy throughout England and Wales.

CP Sport caters for all ages and abilities - from those takingpart for fun right through to 2012 paralympic competitors.

Some of the activities CP Sport offers include athletics, boccia,bowls, football, swimming and table tennis and cricket.For further information go to www.cpsport.org

Switch to emailWe are planning to use email a lot more from next year.

Email makes it much easier for us to keep you up to date withthe Centre’s work. It is also more cost-effective not to mentionenvironmentally friendly.

To receive Bobath bulletins online type in “NEWS” in thesubject field of an email and send it [email protected]

Bobath abroadTherapists from the Bobath Centretravelled to the Universidad Francisco deVitoria in Madrid to attend the EuropeanBobath Tutors Association Congress inSeptember. Christine Barber, director of therapy servicespresented her paper Aspects for the wellbeing of children withcerebral palsy – Perspectives of physical therapy, on the final day.

North and south of the borderBobath consultant, Virginia Knox, returned to her NorthernIreland roots to lead a course on the Gross Motor FunctionMeasure for 24 therapists, and a Bobath introductory course for30 therapists in Belfast.

Yolly Broek, a Bobath senior speech & language therapist,travelled to Wicklow at the request of Enable Ireland to run aspeech & language introductory course for Irish therapists.

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The Bobath Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy does notdirectly endorse or recommend products or services advertised inBobath News. We advise that you speak to your Bobath therapistbefore purchasing a therapy-related product or service.

Katy and Sarah join the team

Contact usEditor - Kevin Gillespie Assistant editor - Sarah SmithEditorial and advertising enquiries: 020 8442 2276 or email [email protected] East End Road, London N2 8AU 020 8444 3355Bobath Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy, Registered charity 229663Bobath Centre for Adults with Neurological Disability, Registered charity 1039162. ©The Bobath Centre 2010

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Dad of the YearCongratulations toBobath dad, MartinBrooks, who has wonBounty’s Real Dad ofthe Year 2010.

He was nominated byhis wife Sarah who said“Martin is a loving dadto our daughter, Miawho has severe cerebralpalsy and needs 24 hourcare. Martin is 100%committed to her and isalways thinking of waysto make her happy and enjoy life. He’ll stay up all night when she isunwell and will do anything to make her laugh.”

Martin said “Becoming a father is the best thing that has ever happened tome and I treasure every minute we spend as a family. Mia continues toinspire me every day and with number two just arrived I am extremelyexcited about being a father again.”

After years of struggling to understand Mia’s needs Martin bought aniPhone and decided to put their ‘apps for everything’ slogan to the test.When he discovered there was nothing that suited her specific communi-cation need he spent nine months developing his own app, iComm, togive Mia a voice and to help children with communication needs learn,play and have fun.

iComm allows Mia to point out pictures of food, toys, activities and otherday-to-day themes on the iPhone using her eyes. Since it launched inApple’s app store, iComm has been downloaded by more than 8,000people worldwide. Both Martin’s apps, iComm and iSpy Phonics (aninteractive phonics learning app) are available on his website which isnamed after his beloved daughter. www.miasapps.com

Small is bountifulLike many small charities, we find it difficult to beheard amid the noise made by the major charitieswith their vast marketing budgets and PR clout (not that we’re bitter!).

So when the Foundation for Social Improvementcreated Small Charities Week to raise the profile ofthe sector we jumped at the opportunity to join in.The FSI supports small charities across the UK tobuild happier, safer and more supportivecommunities. They provide free training and adviceso that small charities can be better at what they do.

During the week, the foundation organised anumber of awareness-raising events that includedturning the London Eye purple and launching araffle with the winner receiving a Mini First, a prizeway beyond the means of most small charities.

They also challenged organisations to come up witha pithy slogan that would persuade eBay users todonate online. The Bobath Centre was one of threewinners and featured on eBay for a week resultingin over £3,000 in online donations. Many of thosesellers have continued to give a percentage of theirsales to thecharity long afterSmall CharitiesWeek was over.

If you areinvolved with asmall charity andwould like to jointhe FSI, go towww.thefsi.org

Mini WinnerThe winner of the Great BigSmall Charity Car Draw wasJill Graham who bought herticket to support Daisy Chain,an autism charity based in theNorth East.

The raffle raised £69,560 for the211 participating charitiesincluding £1,200 for the BobathCentre.

Thank you to everyone whobought a ticket.

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Week 5:Course participants focus on speech andlanguage therapy for two days this week,particularly eating and drinking. There aremore neuroscience lectures, as well as anafternoon focusing on adults with cerebralpalsy.

Yvonne: Blown away by the speed andknowledge of Margaret Mayston inNeuroscience again. The woman has asuper brain. The feeding sessionsrevealed lots of new, unfamiliar things

Marcia: This week we had an essay towrite – it is so difficult to fully cover atopic with only 1500 words, anddemonstrate that we are grasping theBobath Concept.

Laura: Really enjoyed the Neurosciencelecture. The Importance of Play wasvaluable, as it made me realise what animpact it can have on directing therapyand attaining motivation and enjoymentas well. The eating and drinking lectureswere so interesting, especially becausethey were presented with suchenthusiasm and passion.

Week 6:The week begins with a day of Orthopaedicslectures, and course participants begin theirsecond round of practical sessions. Speechand Learning Therapy sessions alsocontinue.

Yvonne: Everyone is feeling at a losswith our new Bobath knowledge, whichis definitely difficult to apply withseverely visually and cognitivelyimpaired children. Feeling the stress ofcompleting the assignment; I want to seemy kids!

Marcia: This has been the most drainingweek ever, physically and emotionally.There was another assignment, anassessment of a new child. The childrenare more challenging than the childrenwe saw at our last set of clinicals - thelittle boy we are seeing is so difficult tofigure out how to treat.

Week 7:Much of this week focuses on problemsolving techniques, looking at clinical casestudies of children with different presen-tations of cerebral palsy. Practical sessionsalso continue.

Yvonne: Better start. I passed the essay!Really enjoyed seeing our child at theschool again – he has changed a lot anddoes new things! The week went reallyquickly, notice on the board on Fridayafternoon – everybody passed the twoSLT assignments.

Marcia: This week started off really well– the last of our assignments washanded in – yes! My partner and I hadour workshop this week. I was morenervous than at the previous one – Ifound this child so much morechallenging. The workshop was helpful,it gave us a new direction to worktowards during our last few sessions.

Week 8:The last week of the course is orientated toclinical treatment sessions and workshopsat the Centre. There are dedicated sessionsfor course members to review what theyhave learned over the previous sevenweeks.

Yvonne: Back to the Bobath Centre forour third practical. Told informally thatall assessments were OK and everybodypassed the second practical! I have tostart planning for my departure onSaturday. I’ve had enough of the coldweather now – it is just too COLD.

Marcia: This week we were workingwith children everyday, however thistime there would be no assignmentsresulting from it. The final day came andwe were so happy. We all got ourcertificates and most people ran off toget home as they had been missing theirhomes for eight weeks. We shall see howsuccessful we are in our practice withour new Bobath skills.

Thank you to our students for their insightsinto Bobath training.

Basic instinct

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In the last issue we got a first-hand account of therapy students studying on the Bobatheight-week foundation course. We pick up their story in week five.

(part two)

CorrectionIn the last issue of Bobath News,Laura was quoted as saying that she“had never had the opportunity tostudy child development”. Thisshould have read that she had neverhad the opportunity to study childdevelopment in such detail. We aresorry for the mix up.

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A right royal runThe autumn sun shonein Hyde Park inOctober for the RoyalParks Half Marathon.We had five runnerstaking part in this sold-

out event, one of whom was Peter Cooke, a lawyer who hasrecently been co-opted onto the trustee board. Peter only tookup running a few years ago but crossed the finish line in acreditable one hour 57 minutes. In the field was RosalindWilliams, an IT project manager with HSBC. The bank is matchfunding her fundraising pound for pound.

Also taking part were Mark and Katie Harding and theirfriend, Justine Ellis. Mark and Katie have a special reason forrunning because their son, Archie visited the Bobath Centre in2006 after he was born prematurely. Sadly, he died in 2007 andthe Hardings have continued to fundraise in his memory.Together the team raised over £4,000.

Mum’s the wordThe Bobath Centre is now a member of Mumsnet. Described by The Times as "The country's most popular meeting point for parents," thewebsite has lots of tips about parenting generally and there isalso a special needs section. To register, go to:www.mumsnet.com

Good neighboursWho says people in London don’t know their neighbours?Hasni Suleman works at the North London Jamatkhana on EastEnd Road, opposite the Bobath Centre. When he came in to askif the Jamatkhana could make use of our car park from time totime, he was very impressed with the charity’s work.

Hasni and his friend Mohammed organise quarterlyfundraising dinners for local charities, and he decided that theBobath Centre should benefit from the next one. On 15th Julyguests dined on delicious Indian food and enjoyed live Indianmusic for a good cause, and a £500 contribution was made tothe children’s charity.

Recipes for successOur thanks to the People Policy SpecialistsTeam at Marks and Spencer who came upwith an innovative fundraising idea thissummer: an online recipe newsletter.

Beth Ryder, who organised the PPS team’sfundraising, said “we wanted to support asmall charity and promote healthy living, sosharing healthy eating recipes seemed like agood idea. Each team member made a £4 donation, and inreturn they received a healthy recipe by email every day for amonth.” Beth and the rest of the PPS team raised around £161 –well done!

Summer Events

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Reach for the skyWell done to Course 81 at RAF Cosford for completing the Welsh3000 Challenge, a gruelling 25 mile trek across 14 peaks above3,000 ft! In doing so, they raised over £1,600 for the Bobath Centre.

Hannah Griffin and her colleagues are training to be Royal AirForce PT instructors. They took the opportunity to raise moneyfor the Bobath Centre because she said, “It’s an amazingcharity that does a fantastic job.” With a volunteer supportcrew providing food and drink at checkpoints, they completedthe toughest of challenges in 24 hours.

Course 81, we salute you!

Reach for the sky 2Bobath regulars James and Christina Loosemore took to theskies over the summer courtesy of the Douglas BaderFoundation which gave them the chance to take the controls ofa light aircraft under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor.

As the name suggests the foundation honours the memory ofSir Douglas Bader who lost both legs in a flying accident in1931. This did not stop him flying and during the SecondWorld War he became a fighter ace before being shot downover France in 1941. He spent the remainder of the war as aPOW. He died in 1982.

The Loosemore family are known at the Bobath Centre for theirenergetic approach to life. Last year James Loosemore set up the“Isle of Wight Inclusives,” a football team for under-sixteens withdisabilities, with support from Portsmouth FC. The club hasproved to be so popular that they are now looking to expand.

Videx excelThanks to our friends at Videx Security who recently held theirthirteenth annual golfday in aid of theBobath Centre.

Bobath volunteerDanial Rickard, whosefather runs Videx, wasin the office to handover a cheque for£11,391 to Steve andJack James. “The eventraised more than previous years,” said Kevin Gillespie for theBobath Centre, “proving that people’s generosity hasn’t beenaffected by the recession.”

Pets win prizesNearly one and half million people will leave money to theirpets when they die, putting them in sixth place as the mostpopular beneficiaries in wills.

Startlingly, even though nine out of ten people know who theywould like to see their money go to, over 30 million haven’t gotround to writing a will.

Keith Barrett, chief executive of Unbiased.com who carried out the survey said, “an increasing number of people wish to leave money to charitiesor friends, therefore it has never been more important to clearlystate your wishes in a will.”

Probably the most depressing statistic is that over 316,000people saw their estate to go to the government.

If you are thinking of making a will and would like to leave agift to the Bobath Centre please contact a solicitor or speak toKevin Gillespie at the charity on 020 8442 2276.

Christina takes the controls

BUPA London 10,000• 30th May 2011 • We have guaranteed places• Contact Sarah on 020 8442 2275 to register

Our 2011 Virgin London Marathon guaranteed placesare now full, but if you have your own place throughthe ballot we would love to hear from you.

If you are interested in taking part in another runanywhere in the UK or abroad we will be happy to findyou a place. Look on the Bobath website or [email protected].

A place of your own?

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To donate, please visitwww.justgiving.com/

HappyChildren orcomplete and return the

enclosed donation slip in the envelope

provided.