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Child Development and Guidance Centre
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Important events around the CDGC
Here you'll find out more about the events being held in context
with the CDGC.
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March 4th 2005 - Official opening ceremony of the CDGC's new home
Finally the Child Development and Guidance Centre has its own home, for the
first time since it was founded in 1998. After a long year of constructions
we have a two roomed building with toilet facilities, providing office space
for the physiotherapist and the paediatrician. On Friday, 4. March, we've
celebrated on an official cutting of ribbon in the morning and a children's
fun fair in the afternoon. About hundred of guests came to see the party,
among them Health and Human Services Minister Hon. Damien Greaves.
Julita Peter wrote for the St. Lucia Government:
Child Development and Guidance Centre to get financial assistance
Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - Health and Human Services Minister Hon. Damien Greaves
has pledged financial assistance to the Child Development and Guidance Centre.
Speaking at the official opening of the newly constructed facility last Friday,
Minister Greaves said "while the Ministry’s health professionals had been
assisting the centre, the Ministry has been tardy in some areas".
According to Mr. Greaves, along with educational pursuits, the centre caters
to the health needs of children with disabilities. In light of that he suggested
that it should be brought fully under the program of the Child and Adolescent
Health Care of the Ministry.
"There are ongoing assessments and diagnoses for children with physical mental,
emotional and behavioural problems; there have been intervention programs that
have taken into account, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy,
occupational therapy and early stimulation, but what is most important of this
centre is that the centre will promote the right of children to health care
and education in safe, secure and loving environments. And therefore, we have
no choice but to support it", Minister Greaves said.
The Health Minister further called on the centre to work along with his Ministry
in developing a sensitization program that would educate the public on the
challenges of children living with disabilities. He said that the Ministry of
Health was fully aware of the challenges facing children and was now negotiating
on acquiring a property for the establishment of a transit home for troubled
children.
Meantime, Education Officer for Special Needs Mrs. Cynthia Weeks said the
Ministry commended and supported the efforts of the administrators of the centre.
She also called on the public to lend support: "We must play out part in seeking
a better quality of life for our children with disabilities, and the children
with disability are in this situation not through their own choosing or their
fault. Let us rally behind CDGC and Dr. Shuling; I want to tell you to keep up
the good work; the Ministry of education supports you".
The new facility was built through donations from local corporate sponsors and
a German association.
(taken from www.stlucia.gov.lc)
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Her Excellency Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy arrives
front row: Hon. Damien Greaves, minister of Health, Her Excellency Governor General
Dame Pearlette Louisy, Archbishop Kelvin Felix and many more
after blessing the office: Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy, Health and Human
Services Minister Hon. Damien Greaves, Archbishop Kelvin Felix and others
Please click pictures to enlarge!
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The "Weekend Star" wrote about us on 11. March 2005
Child Guidance Centre finds a home, finally
After many years of operating under very trying circumstances, the Child Development
and Guidance Centre (CDGC) was able to open the doors to its brand new facility located
adjacent to the Dunnottor School, Castries.
The CDGC is a vital tool in the early recognition of children’s learning difficulties
and other potential problems at an early age. For years, Dr Schüling and her team have
struggled to find a home where problems in the development of children can be detected
and treated early in life in order to improve the quality of the children’s lives and
the lives of those around them.
Health and Human Services Minister Damien Greaves has pledged financial assistance to
the CDGC. Speaking at the opening last Friday, Minister Greaves said, while the
Ministry’s health professionals had been assisting the centre, the Ministry has
been tardy in some areas. Along with educational pursuits, the centre caters to the
health needs of children with disabilities. In light of that Greaves suggested that
it should be brought fully under the program of the Child and Adolescent Health Care
of the Ministry. "There are ongoing assessments and diagnoses for children with
physical mental, emotional and behavioral problems; there have been intervention
programs that have taken into account, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy,
occupational therapy and early stimulation, but what is most important of this centre
is that the centre will promote the right of children to health care and education
in safe, secure and loving environments. And therefore, we have no choice but to
support it," Minister Greaves said.
The Health Minister further called on the centre to work along with his Ministry in
developing a sensitization program that would educate the public on the challenges
of children living with disabilities. He said the Ministry of Health was fully aware
of the challenges facing children and was now negotiating on acquiring a property
for the establishment of a transit home for troubled children. Meanwhile, Education
Officer for Special Needs Cynthia Weeks said the Ministry commended and supported
the efforts of the administrator of the centre. The new facility was built through
donations from local corporate sponsors and a German association.
(taken from www.stluciastar.com/weekend/)
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from left: Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen King, Health Minister Damien Greaves and
CDGC founder Dr. Schüling at the centre’s opening
Please click picture to enlarge!
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March 16th 2002 - Fundraising - St. Lucia keeps a torch alight for
special needs children
Candles of hope lit the night in a blazing display at a special fundraising
event for the Child Development and Guidance Centre (CDGC) in St. Lucia on March
16, 2002. The event, held at the home of Resident British Commissioner Doug Rice
and his wife Allison, featured a theme of "keeping the torch alight for the
special needs children of St. Lucia."
Remarks of resident British Commissioner Doug Rice:
"We have invited you to join us tonight because we want to share with you a
vision of a better future for the special needs children of St. Lucia. The Child
Development and Guidance Centre was founded four years ago by Dr. Brigitte
Schüling, a paediatrician from Germany whose family has been associated with St.
Lucia for many years.
When Dr. Schüling saw that the demand for assessment and therapy for St. Lucian
children with special needs was not being met, she established the CDGC and
launched its first summer camp four years ago. It has been the privilege of the
British High Commission to support her efforts by providing airline tickets for
the therapists who come out from Britain each summer to work as volunteers in
the summer camp.
Dr. Schüling lit a torch of hope for these children and their families. We are
asking you to help keep the torch alight, and to allow it to shine even more
brightly in the future, by giving your support to this year’s summer camp and to
the vision that Dr. Schüling has so lovingly kept alive over the years."
The mission of the CDGC is to provide individual assessments and follow-up
therapy as early in life as possible for children who are developmentally
delayed or disabled. Typically these children are suffering from cerebral palsy,
spina bifida, autism, or serious learning disabilities. Therapists at the centre
also give training to the children’s families and to community health care
workers and nurses. Since opening the centre in 1998 over 200 children have been
served in the program.
Carrying out the theme of keeping the torch alight for special needs children,
Mr. Rice and Her Excellency the Governour General Dame Pearlette Louisy led the
guests in creating a visual demonstration of the effect one glowing candle can
have when joined by others, as more than 70 guests placed an individual candle
in a large container of sand to create a brilliant light on the darkened patio.
The event was co-sponsored by the "friends of the CDGC," six couples who
responded to an appeal by Jimmy James to "give something back" to St. Lucia. In
addition to Mr. and Mrs. Rice and Mr. James and his wife Ellen, the sponsoring
couples were Anita and Harold Fine, Sharon and Carnie Lawson, Wilma von
Oudenhoven and Hans Aberson, and Jeanie and Daniel Ough.
Dr. Brigitte Schüling, pediatrician, founder and coordinator of the CDGC,
recognized the "extraordinary support" of the British High Commission for the
past four years in contributing the funds to purchase airline tickets for the
child development therapists from England and Germany who have traveled to St.
Lucia each summer to volunteer their services at the three-week camps. Plans for
this summer are to serve over 50 children in the summer camp. In addition, the
visiting therapists will provide workshops for nurses and community health aides
and take part in the first regional conference on health needs in child
development.
Dr. Schüling remarked, "We are here tonight because a group of friends decided
that the flame should be kept alight. Thank you very much for being here to make
sure that the summer camp will happen and we will continue to make a difference
in the lives of children with special needs."
The total of funds raised as a result of the evening was EC$ 20,000 (US$ 7,500),
all of which was donated to the CDGC. While the CDGC program operates year
round, the funds from this event are being specifically set aside for a
three-week intensive therapy summer camp for special needs children who are
developmentally delayed or disabled.
For further information or if you wish to make a contribution, please visit our
contact site.
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from left: Dr. Brigitte Schüling, the Governour General Dame Pearlette
Louisy and Resident British Commissioner Doug Rice.
Happy grateful smiles,
Brigitte Schüling
and Jeanie Ough.
Please click pictures to enlarge!
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send email | updated 02'2005
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