Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Dominican Republic President honors Dr. Liliana Mayo, founder and executive director of CASP, for her successful 35-year education work in favor of people with different abilities


On February 25, Dominican Republic President´s Danilo Medina decorated Dr. Liliana Mayo Ortega, founder and executive director of the Ann Sullivan Center of Peru (CASP), into the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus, Official Degree, given through Decree 57-14.

The award ceremony took place at the Ambassadors Hall of the National Palace in the presence of the First Lady, Cándida Montilla de Medina, the Minister of the Presidency, Gustavo Montalvo, and representatives of the Central American Country.

It is worth mentioning that Dr. Liliana Mayo was invited by the First Lady of Dominican Republic, Cándida Montilla de Medina, to expound about her experience in the care of children with different abilities and to strengthen ties between the Ann Sullivan Center and the Center of Comprehensive Attention to Disability (CAID).

Dr. Mayo is recognized for her 35-year work through the Ann Sullivan Center of Peru in favor of children with special abilities, as well as her constant support offered to the Dominican Republic in the implementation of methodologies to help in the development of the Center of Comprehensive Attention to Disability (CAID).

CAID is a diagnostic and rehabilitation center for children, age 0-10 years, with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and physical developmental delays (motor ones), which was developed by the office of the First Lady.

“But above all, CAID is going to make the difference in the life of the children, the families, the professionals and all the visitors who come to the Dominican Republic and everyone, because, as the First Lady says, ‘It is a little piece of heaven in our Latin America” Dr. Mayo said after giving thanks for the recognition and highlighting the possibilities of CAID, which she defined as an advanced and innovative center.

“You have a First Lady, Mrs. Cándida, who has put passion and persistence into a center that I believe will give much light to children who are waiting for this opportunity to receive an education,” the Founder and Executive Director of CASP added.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Renowned ophthalmologist for people with different abilities and the CASP volunteer coordinator organized the First Vision Clinic for people with different abilities in Panamá




From the 13th to the 17th of January of 2014, the Center Ann Sullivan Panamá (CASPAN), organized the First Vision Clinic with Dr. Linda Lawrence, renowned ophthalmologist, with more than 28 yrs of professional international experience. Doctor Lawrence works in several countries around the world in the Evaluation and Ophthalmological Treatment of people with different abilities, who are verbal and non-verbal; counting for this matter with the support of the CASP Volunteer Coordinator, Mrs. Chantal Fort d’Auriol.

This Clinic had three ideal components:
1) The Visual Evaluation of the students with different abilities at CASPAN, with the treatment and follow-up recommendations directed to their families and Specialists from CASPAN.
2) The Demostration and Training of the Visual Acuity Evaluation to the CASPAN Specialists.
3) The Training of two local panamenian ophthalmologists, Dr. Maritza López, and Dr. Giorgía Alverola, who will be in charge of the follow-up and control checkups of the CASPAN students. 
                                      
The First Lady’s office organized a dinner at the Presidency’s  “La Casa Amarilla”, celebrating Dr. Lawrence’s visit to Panamá, who offered the Conference: “How does Vision affect Development, and Development affects the use of vision” in people with different abilities, for the important health professionals, political authorities and government guests gathered there.

This event was highlighted with the important presence of Panamá’s First Lady, Mrs. Marta Linares de Martinelli, who thanked the international expert for the benefits her one week visit gave towards the attention as a whole of the population with autism spectrum condition and severe intellectual disability.

Dr. Lawrence has been internationally recognized and has won several awards for her humanitarian work on behalf of the people with different abilities around the world. She uses a very simple language, different methods and special tests, so as to identify when a person with these conditions has also visual difficulties, looking to maximize their vision, and later keep on doing follow up checkups with local ophthalmologists, thus bettering their overall learning this way. She emphasizes the importance of a (good and healthy) visual capacity for a child to learn adequately. Her research studies have demonstrated that 50 to 75% of this population has visual problems, or low visual impairment.

In the year 2005, this Vision Clinic was organized for the first time at the Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú, CASP, thanks to the enthusiastic and determined drive of our general director and founder, Liliana Mayo Ortega, PhD, as well as Dr. Linda Marie Lawrence’s desire and commitment to make a difference in the lives of people with different abilities. From then on people of this risk population have been seen at CASP and other institutions as well.  These vision clinics have also taken place in the peruvian cities of Piura, Sullana, Chiclayo, Trujillo, Huaráz, Caráz, Arequipa, Tacna, Cusco and Madre de Dios thanks to Dr. Lawrence, and her CASP teamwork.


Dr. Linda Marie Lawrence has her private practice at Salina, Kansas,  is a graduated ophthalmologist of the University of Texas A&M, and the Texas University at Galveston (USA). She’s also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology of the University of Kansas in the city of Lawrence (Ks), and university Professor of the Ophthalmological Department at the Medical Center of KU, the University of Kansas, as well as a CASP and Orbis International Consultant, among other recognitions and posts.