When I first saw Sasha, he was silently lying on his bed in a small room in one of the most forgotten psycho-neurological institutions in the Zaporizhzhia region. The door and windows in the room were tightly closed, and two of Sasha's neighbors were smoking. It was also obvious that Sasha had not been on the street for months - there was no suitable stroller or wheelchair for walking in the building. On the street - in the building there was not a single common room or living room where the inhabitants could spend time. As a result, bedridden inhabitants, such as Sasha, were in their beds all the time. The only entertainment is the TV, which turned out to be broken during my arrival.

Even by the standards of imperfect Ukrainian psycho-neurological institutions, such conditions seemed terrible to me. In the fall of 2014, the "Happy Child" foundation organized the transportation of Sasha and another inhabitants to Chernigovka psycho-neurological institutionin the village. Kalinovka. It cannot be said that the conditions in this psycho-neurological institution are much better, but at least the room is more spacious, additional staff from the foundation is working, and we have more opportunities to help Sasha.

In Kalinovka, I managed to find out the details of Sasha's life. He was born on October 24, 1986 in the Novonikolaevsky district of the Zaporizhzhia region. His mother died, and his father took care of his son for a long time. For some reason, the father became unable to take care of Sasha any longer. The guy lived for some time with different people, and finally ended up in a psycho-neurological institution.

It may seem to an outsider that Sasha cannot speak, but if you wish, you can learn to understand Sasha - sometimes he even “puns” or makes comments to the staff. Likes to watch TV - of course, it's better than looking at the ceiling. For some unknown reason, Sasha was deprived of legal capacity, that is, now he does not have the right to vote and independently manage his pension. Although, in our opinion and the opinion of the staff, Sasha has the opportunity to express his thoughts and desires.

Now, in April 2015, Sasha's health remains difficult. He has cerebral palsy (spastic tetraparesis), severe lack of weight, very thin, twisted legs. It is urgent to conduct a qualitative examination of Sasha and provide him with special food (such as Resource Optimum). In addition, we want to give Sasha the opportunity to be outdoors. There are not enough staff in Kalinovka for such walks (the load on the nanny in the psycho-neurological institution does not allow organizing walks for such "difficult" inhabitants). Therefore, we plan to pay for the work of an additional person who would take Sasha outside at least 2-3 times a week.

Those who want to help Sasha - write to us at helpus@helpus.org.ua or call +38 066 513 34 35

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