Belleville Rotary Club And Handicapped Children

Rotary's History of Helping Handicapped Children

In 1922 the Rotary Club of Belleville, along with nine other Rotary clubs in Ontario, assisted in founding The Ontario Society for Crippled Children, later to become the Easter Seal Society. This organization focuses on assisting physically disabled children. Over the years since then, Belleville Rotarians have directed a major part of their fund raising efforts towards helping disabled children and their families. This is accomplished through whole or partial funding when requested and recommended by The Easter Seal Society representatives or other organizations who bring a family in need to the Rotary Club's attention.

Why Rotary Provides Help

Despite Canada's relatively sophisticated medical and welfare structure, situations frequently arise where families find their financial resources practically or completely exhausted and struggle to get by. The family resources may not be there to meet the increased financial needs of children with physical or mental challenges - or sometimes, both.

How Does Rotary Help?

The children needing help have a wide array of handicaps including cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and developmental delay, to name only a few. The financial assistance that Rotary provides enables the families to purchase such items as:

• special medical corrective devices
• wheel chairs and mobility equipment such as special walkers
• ramps to allow children to access their homes in wheel chairs without being lifted.

In the case of wheel chairs, for example, part of the cost is usually covered by government under the Assistive Devices Program (ADP). The families are expected to cover the balance of the cost, but often they have no insurance coverage available and lack the resources to pay much, if anything, towards the significant remaining cost.

Another financial hurdle can arise as physically challenged children grow. Many disabled children lack the strength or muscle tone to carry out daily activities such as dressing, feeding themselves or bathing. As a child gets older the body weight increases, and the parents are faced with constant lifting and maneuvering to care for their child. Often the result is serious back problems for the parent and a point can be reached where the parent (or parents) is simply unable to physically manage any longer. Assistance may be required for things such as:

• special baths and toilet accessibility equipment
• lifts, slings and chairs to help move the child without putting strain on the caregiver
• special computer software for the visually impaired or physically disabled
• expenses such as the cost of travel or overnight accommodation to obtain special treatments at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto

Equipment designed specifically for the needs of the disabled is very expensive. Often further expenses mount when house modifications are required to accommodate the specialized equipment. These can include such things as the widening of doorways so that wheel chairs can move from one room to another. With these larger projects, the Rotary Club often joins with other service clubs in the area to share the financial load.

The Rotary Club's Evolving Role in Helping Handicapped Children

Over time the Easter Seal Society has developed its own structure and management style. As with many other charitable groups, this has resulted in centralization of much of the organization. The Rotary Club of Belleville, therefore, chose in early 2002 to direct the majority of its fundraising to the direct assistance of families in the Quinte area. Families in need are referred and recommended for assistance by the Children's Treatment Centres of the Quinte Health Care Corporation in Belleville and Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston. The Rotary Club still maintains a relationship with the Easter Seal Society and will continue to participate with them on an "as needed" basis.

What is Our Goal?

The Rotary Club of Belleville's prime objective is to assist financially stressed families in the care of their handicapped children to allow them to grow up to reach their full potential. Trying to promote the best possible quality of life for physically and mentally challenged children continues to be a key ongoing project of the Rotary Club of Belleville today, as it has been since the early 1920's.