UFCH Provide Charity Health Checkup for Children with Autism
Winter is just around the corner. At the turn of seasons, United Foundation for China’s Health (UFCH) brought medical resources of United Family Healthcare(UFH) to Stars and Rain School and arranged an intimate and efficient pro bono examination for the children studying there. In addition to the general practitioners from Beijing United Family Hospital with international medical standards, there are also “Little Pink” nurses who had just joined UFH as nurse trainees.
Children with autism are known as “star children”. They usually tend to be in their own world and unable to express themselves with words and actions and for some reason they may cry or not cooperate. During a child’s physical examination, the signals from child’s speech or movement may be the key information, which means that doctors and nurses need to pay more attention and have patience during the physical examination of children with autism to finish the examination successfully.
To create a “safe” physical examination space for the children, the physical examination was conducted on a one to one basis. Doctors from UFH also use curtains to block out the sun in advance, “Reducing the light can make the children feel more relaxed during the checkup” shared Dr. Feng. As a professional pediatrician certified by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Feng has rich experience in treating children with autism. As the medical leader of the charity trip, Dr. Feng also controlled all aspects of the physical examination process while personally onsite and provided professional guidance to the medical team.
Because of the cooperation of enthusiastic and professional “Little Pinks”. The whole physical examination was smooth and orderly. Prior to the trip, there was detailed communication with parents so the doctors had time in advance to review each child’s detailed information. Having such key information helped the doctors to run the physical checks very efficiently.
We found that often the parents returned to the examination room or invited the doctor out of the room for further consultation. The parents really wanted to seize the rare opportunity to seek further medical consultation with the doctors, especially after the doctor taught them how to observe the health of their children. These caring parents were able to immediately make connections back to the small details of daily life.
Over 20 medical professionals from UFH participated in the charity examination. Accompanied by the children’s parents, a total of 40 children aged 3-6 who are diagnosed with autism successfully completed the physical examination. The professional level and efficient teamwork of the UFH team impressed everyone and the caring heart of the doctors also won the trust and cooperation of the children. United Foundation for China’s Health, United Family Healthcare and Star Rain jointly support and call for the accessibility of medical treatment for autistic children. Join us in helping make sure they don’t feel alone.
“Stars and Rain” was founded in 1993, the first private non-profit organization in China that provides education for autistic children and their families.