$100,000 Contributed To New Playground.
THE CDGC, (Child Development and Guidance Centre) is a registered non-profit organization established in Saint Lucia in 1998. The Organisation’s mission is to provide early intervention to assist children with recognized developmental delays in achieving their fullest potential. This is achieved by investing in early diagnosis through specialist assessment and then intervention with speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and play based therapy.
These services are offered to children from birth to the age of sixteen years by a multi-disciplinary team comprising a paediatrician and medical therapists. It is the only facility that provides this paediatric intervention service for Saint Lucian children.
Over the last two years, the Organisation has recorded some major milestones, not the least of which is the move to its new and permanent home in La Clery in February 2016. The new location is wheelchair accessible, has multiple therapy rooms, and potential for a training room and conference centre as well as an indoor/outdoor sensory space or playground.
Work is finally complete on the playground, which is a necessary part of the critical therapy for the children who receive care and interventions at the centre. The Rotary Club of Gros Islet has risen to the occasion and has contributed EC$100,000 to complete this space.
The playground, fully equipped and ready for use, was officially handed over to the centre, last Thursday. This was done in a small intense ceremony, in the company of Rotarians, family and friends of the centre, and members of the corporate community who work with Rotary throughout the year.
In addition to the playground, some of the children who depend on wheelchairs for mobility also benefitted from various pieces of support created to increase their balance in the chairs. Go To Support items was instrumental in providing this assistance, which means that many of the children with severe disabilities will be able to sit upright in a wheelchair or in any regular high chair. Many of them will be able to sit at table with the rest of the family during mealtime for the first time.
The Rotary Club of Gros Islet is pleased to congratulate the New CDGC on this major achievement which will serve the needs of Saint Lucia’s children well into the future.