In Rize, doctors, whom children with special needs have difficulty in reaching, meet with them at the Barrier-Free Living Center.
Within the framework of the program organized at the Rize Municipality Barrier-Free Life Center, which operates in the central Camiönü Neighborhood of Rize, hard-to-reach doctors came to Rize for the treatment of young people and children. Children and young people were examined by Pediatric Orthopedics, Orthopedics and Traumatology Specialist Assoc. Dr. Barış Görgün and physiotherapists and health checks were carried out.
Stating that they have been coming to Rize in certain periods for about 4 years for children with special needs who have difficulty in going out of the province and cannot reach them, Assoc. Dr. Barış Görgün said, “We normally serve in Istanbul. However, for 3-4 years, we have been trying to perform orthopedic examinations and treatments of children who come to rehabilitation at the Barrier-Free Life Center in Rize. We have a very nice and warm dialog with the patients here. Some of them we have known for many years, some of them we have personally treated in Istanbul. Therefore, we have the opportunity to see and meet our control patients here. We also have a very good sincerity with the families. We meet them frequently and try not to interrupt their follow-up. We are very pleased with the approach of the families here, I hope they are also pleased.”
“For children who can't go anywhere else, this has become a full activity area”
Expressing that they are struggling to eliminate the biggest fear of families, 'What will happen to our children when we are not here', Rize Municipality Barrier-Free Life Center Manager Specialist Physiotherapist Filiz Bayraktaroğlu said, “Here, we offer various workshop opportunities to young people and children over the age of 18 who do not receive support from anywhere, who are beyond the age of education, who cannot go to special education and rehabilitation centers because the report period has expired. Apart from that, we enable children in need of special education and rehabilitation from 0-18 years old to carry out activities to increase their daily life skills, both individually and in groups, and to adapt to social life. Especially for children who stay at home and cannot go anywhere, this place has become a full activity area. That's why the families are also very happy. It's a place where their children can go, have a good time, and the return is good, when they go home, for example, they tell us, this is what we did today, this is what we did. Some of them are young people who can be more independent from their families due to their age. We try to make them independent. Families are more relaxed when they realize this. The biggest fear of our families is 'Will my child be able to take care of themselves when I'm not around tomorrow?' We are actually working on this with 60 percent of our students. We arranged jobs they could do at the municipality's Meydan Social Facilities, and together with the teams there, we gave them a 3-4 month working period, like an internship. Then there were young people who didn't even receive care fees from anywhere, and we placed them there for part-time work. Some of them go to the municipality's greenhouse. We are pushing them to see if there can be an on-the-job program there. Rize Municipality is a roof and they make them use all the facilities within it to the fullest. Therefore, you have the chance to spread the things we teach outside the activities that children know and can do, and in this way, especially children over the age of 18, regardless of their disability, are all outside. Our aim is actually this; to increase the functionality of children regardless of their age and to ensure their independence. Nowadays, municipalities in our country establish barrier-free living centers, but some of them can only open them for one group. Here we are doing work that includes all groups, all groups with special needs.”
For 2 days, all children and young people who came to Rize Municipality Barrier-Free Living Center were examined and checked by doctors and physiotherapists.
