ASU OT Students Help Treat Uganda Orphans

It’s a trip that Dr. Jewell Dickson wants to take her students on every year.

A trip that makes a difference in the lives of children suffering.

“We treated children with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, sickle cell disease,” said Dickson.

Dickson says there are only about 89 therapists for 44 million people in Uganda.
As part of the Occupational Therapy masters program, students were able to go and provide their skills– not only in the real world, but on the other side of the world.

“So the students get a very hands on experience. They treat. They are able to give out different hygiene products to the community. They would do home visits. We would just show up at someone’s home that had a child with disabilities. We do wound care right underneath the trees. It is a very ground level medical care,” said Dickson.

It was medical care that forced them to be creative and think out side the box.

“I have never seen such creative therapists as I have seen in Uganda. I saw a therapist demonstrate how to make your own parallel bars by taking 5 or 6 pieces of wood and put it in your yard and create a space to teach your child how to walk,” said Dickson.

The group was gone for two weeks treating illnesses and improving the daily lives of children at the Home of Hope orphanage.
But Dickson says she hopes what happened in those two weeks not only helped change the children… But the hearts of the students as well.

“I saw them grow over the course of two weeks. I think everyone wants to have a chance to go back at some point. So that’s my goal. That I sow a seed that once you are an occupational therapist practicing, you’ll want to give some of your time to the children in Uganda,” said Dickson.