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Vodafone Malta Foundation supports the Helen Keller Resource Centre
Vodafone Malta Foundation has recently equipped the jacuzzi at the Helen Keller Resource Centre with a ceiling hoist, making it much safer for students to access the bath and easier for the staff who assist the youngsters.
The Helen Keller Resource Centre is a centre for students with profound and multiple learning disability of secondary and post-secondary age up to the age of twenty-two.
“Sessions in water have a beneficial impact on youngsters with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties, PMLD; helping them to relax while stimulating their senses,” said Gemma Mifsud Bonnici, Chairperson of the Vodafone Malta Foundation while visiting the centre and presenting them with a donation. “We are convinced that the Foundation’s investment in this centre will reap the benefits by widening the reach of the services offered by the centre.”
The Helen Keller Resource Centre originally catered for students with visual and auditory impairment, but was designated as a centre for students with PMLD in 2009, following the education reformation act. The students follow an adapted curriculum as part of a holistic programme which seeks to give them a wide experience of life in general through a variety of sensorial media.
The centre is equipped with specialized service rooms which include a motor-sensory studio, a multiple-sensory studio, a gym and a Jacuzzi which is used for the students’ hydrotherapy sessions.
Connie Richard, Head of St. Benedict College, from the Helen Keller Resource Centre said, “It is thanks to the support of such beneficiaries that students can benefit from equipment and services which are regularly being upgraded according to their particular needs. We would like to thank Vodafone Malta Foundation for supporting this project entirely. Now that funds are available, another dream has come true!”
Louise Luke, representing British High Commissioner and Vodafone Foundation board member Rob Luke, said “In our everyday life we are constantly bombarded with stimulation which we learn to manage. Unfortunately, a person suffering from PMLD encounters problems in managing these inputs. It is the use of specialist environments such as this Centre that makes it possible for these persons to cope with their learning difficulties.”
