Cole Therapy

Although I love all of our teams that come....I just HAVE to post about a recent team that came specifically for therapy. This is the reason I chose to come to Casa de Fe, yet it's also something I don't get to spend any of my time doing. So.... to see this team come in and provide so much for our kids in this specific area.... Wow. It was just incredible.

Cole Therapy (based in North Houston area) contacted us a while back, because they were looking for an international organization to partner with on a long-term basis. (hopefully!!!) They wanted to know if our kids could benefit from speech, physical, or occupational therapy. We answered with a resounding, "YES!!!"

The company had an application process for their therapists, and the resulting team could not have been more perfect. We had 2 speech therapists, 2 physical therapists, and 1 occupational therapist - all women. The ladies shared that some of them did not know each other well before coming, but it was obvious that the trip resulted in some new friendships. It really was a joy to be around them throughout the trip.

I was SO IMPRESSED by the team's work ethic!! I think the first day was a little overwhelming, because they just got to briefly meet every child (about 25) who could benefit from any one of the therapies....usually more than one is needed for each child. They went to the hostel that first night and sat down as a team, and the next morning they came to me with a plan. In the next couple of days they proceeded to fully evaluate every single child for each respective discipline. They would work at the orphanage all day, and then they stayed up every night until 1:00 or 2:00AM typing up their treatment plans. By the end of the week, they left us with a binder full of the completed treatment plans for each child, AND the information was all translated into Spanish for our therapist here.

I cannot explain to you how exciting this was/is!!! I told them it was like Christmas. :) We've just never had anyone be able to complete their work (therapy-wise) from start to finish like this, and the translated treatment plans will be effective for a long time to come. It is just such a gift for us.

They also spent a lot of their day-time hours with the kids- working on new exercises, fitting braces and adaptive equipment, working with our therapist, Geovanny..... the list goes on! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but the team promised to send me theirs. Here are a couple that I got of Martin whenever he used his quad canes for the first time. He is fearless when it comes to trying out new equipment!





THANK YOU to Cole Therapy!!! Thank you to the executives who provided this opportunity for your employees by counting this trip as paid work. Thank you to each of the 6 women who came and shared their knowledge and love with our kids. We hope to see you all in Ecuador again one day!