HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-03-29, Page 15in Thin` L stow.i or, WI
Forel# wllrltr:!'I'elr" i,..
Today, acro6s Canada, there
are children who are unaware ,
r of
the happiness ofparticipation
in
the sports ase
Pe d gamest. in whiten all
children should' have
, the- "oppor-
tuntty' to take
Parts These .chil-
dren are handicapped,
The 1913
Easter Seal Campaign,; already
underwais for their benefit,.tQ
atd in� theinb
struggle for a.norntol
way of life. The .campaign, spon-
sored by numerous service
groups'. acrosS, the country, hi. isa
time consuming pr ogram:•and`the
peeSe behind it have donated, in
• many cases, a large percentage
of " their time. . -
The Easter Seal Campaign has,
a message. A message filled with
love, involvement and hopefully'
success in 1973. District .chair -
mann of the campaign this year is
Ralph. Moran of Mount. Forest.
Mr. Moran •
is a Lions Club_
member. •
The Message
e
The message Says, "There is
somethi .g • satisf i
Y � about a
ghingof appy children laughing
and playing, but too often it
something we take f
For o> anted.:
Pat walk-
ing is an effort. Running and
climbing and playing games are
even tougher. But, with help,
crippled ' children . can do these
things.-
The crippled child is' not only
confined to the ` major cities or
treatment centres. Many live in
your home town: Listowel, Mount
Forest, Wingham and the sur-
roun nngg area. These children
also need and depend on th k
tee Vance: is director for Wingnam and area.
and aid of citizens, and area sere
ice clubs;
the•
.• is
In ListQwei area.w
,y� Leh in
cludea l
es ,p'a �ef?5t�►a W lean
! a eQ
Gowanstown, Atw.� � oddand , sections of Monkton, the c i
atilpa gn is
handled by �. In
x'y.Wingham
and: Mount Forest, .s
t, Lions Clubs
take on the res .: Po.,nsibilit . y.
The 1973 Easter Seal . Cam-
paign, running from March 22 to
April 22, has a provincial objec-
tive of $1,675,000, in order to meet
its obligation to aid over 14,000
children in Ontario. Prime
Minister Trudeau officially
launched the Ontario Society for.
Crippled Children's Campaign by
purchasing the first sheet of seals
and addressing about 500 Easter
Seal service club representatives
from Southwestern Ontario at a
campaign kick-off dinner in the
Ivanhoe Club, London, on March
21. Mr. Trudeau spoke en the role
of the volunteer in today's
society.
The Ontario Society
For Crippled Children
Founded over 50 years ago, the
Ontario Society isa private,
charitable organization. The
Easter Seal campaign is the only
province -wide annual ;appeal for
funds conducted by the society,
through 230 affiliated. Easter Seal
°'service clubs.
.The Society's services ,tand,
h ri y
0• 114 X
x �
physicallyhandicapped youngs-
ter g
ter in `Ontario under 19 years of
age. The program includes diag-
nostic services, active surgical
and medical treatment, physical
restoration, psychological and
.social adjustment, education,
vocatk,jal training and job train-
ing.
The .London District Crippled
Children's Treatment Centre fes
one such centre which .protudes,,,.
extensive facilities for manydhil-
drep in the area and surrounding
counties. The London centre
serves Bruce, Huron, Perth,
Lambton, Middlesex, Oxford and.
- Elgin Counties,
birth to 10 ar m �
niieen;ab. e
• quest.. Short term resident
, meat is aVallable
• from four 10, About
youngsters from
counties ,:were patient'•
The centre is 'lei
handicapped anis
their future welfare,
The Kitchener Crippled
dren's Centre, like the
centre is filled with f ,,
offering many services ,
crippled child and his "r:fain-0Y.
Diagnostic faoilitiess.J Offered
both: centres include :consu1tantlo
Les McKay, Listowel':director for the Easter SealCa npaigrn.
in paediatrics, neurol4,`'' p yew
be done. Because oft,
their eff
or
many materials have been
donated,such
as braces, ' . a
hearing aids, electric tooth
brushes, wheelchairs, crutches
and
artificial limbs. bs> have
been donated to area children
and centres for permanent use
and some short term needs.
Last year 80: volunteers, :driv-
ing from Guelph and. Cambridge,
donatOd 890 hoursto helping
tr
crip-
pled children visiting ,the Kit-
chener
t-
chener'centre.
The Society arranges or spoa
stirs
anyneeded transportation
"
:ran poria tan,
for youngsters to treattnent
centres, hospitals, clinics or
camps throughout the province.
The . iety's 4 fire summer
cam
provide
Ps ,the�argt drip
pled children's camping
, program;
in the world to about t,t00 each
year: It also .
provides ;social
holid;s a Tor the severely ndi«
lt�naUX
. PPed, e
attend to �a end .r
crippled children's cam
work of "the -Ontario
for ppled. is a never
;battle jts Yelu s.
.nom
is.&fight against the unhappiness
and lonelibees of a
e..
Crippled ldren screw:
Ontario need understanding 1
a -rent:. yr
. �� � � tbem a
pe,for the future.
)logy, f hysical`nled1cine:'#thOr^�' ByKEITfI 'WILLI t , •
edits, � Alr'ISON • will., lee held at the Uiuversit of
plastic. Surgery and denit try
Se
i As usual 1972 was again .$' very
.
Ps i ear, nose OA tlit`oa RR 3 Walton Y
rvices uicludG, speech therapy`
physiotherapy, nursery s,x
occupational therapy, special:.'
education and social services,
active year for members of the
,• Provincial Junior Farmers'
Association, dhd it promises to be
the same for 1973.
To start off every year there is
the Talent Festival held in,Toron-
tp, which gives County members
a chance to compete on a Provin- .
tial level in such activities as
choir, folk singing, square danc-
ing, debating, photography, etc.
This year Spring. competitions
which are usually held in Guelph
will for the first time be held in
Ottawa. This will give Junior
Farmers; the : opportunity 'to :.
t"fv'el ttIt
' t ,tlii'lo.asrid coni _ in °cu Misr_
bowling, basketball and volley-
ball. For a team to be fortunate
enough to -go to Ottawa, it must
first win on the County level and
then 'be victorious on the zone
level.
Throughout the summer and
fall workshops are organized in
music, square dancing, debating,
etc. in several locations in On-
tario for people that have an in-
terest in these activities.
Provineial field day in August
The Society assists the wo
15 of these regional treit..
centres throe out"tat
`;On
t �
payment of approved treatzen
through local Easter Seal service;
clubs or special grants towards`
capital costs.,,':
There are 21.divisions'
district, including 14 clubs oz
councils representing area ns
men, Lions and Rotary elms;
wellf,:
`pllli<e , ladies', ,elulb, , y�
Inthe eyes .=a of the ..Societ
Listowel chairman, . McKay,
the Kinettes of : KincairdinilAre
"one of the hardest vlrorking
groups" in the district.
According to Mr. McKay ,the
work .involved in supporting the
campaign is ‘ almost a 12 -month=
a year jobl„but well worth it too".
The centres of Listowel, Wing -
ham and . Mount Forest have
many volunteers who donate
their time to the work that must
Guelph, where competitions are
held in baseball, swimming,
soccer•and track and field events.
The Junior Farmers' Associa-
tion also sponsor young people on
travellingscholarships to : the
United Kingdom. Also an ex-
change delegate that meets the
requirements. wall be sent to New
Zealand and Australia in early
1974, and because the Provincial
Association believes there is a
great deal, of value in having
Ontario young peoplelearn about
the, way .ofe in other parts;of
our country and world, travel op-
portunities . are organized and
sponsored each year.
one t °e is'i berta,
Manitoba, Nova:: Scotia, Prince
Edward Island,, to the Rural
Youth U.S.A. Conference in Illi-
nois and to the Future F ers'
of American Conference in -
sas City, Missouri. '
It is hard to imagine why there
are so many young people com-
plaining about being "bored and
having nothing to do, when. there
is an organization just for young
people, like the Junior Farmers'
Association of Ontario.
Rotary Club and friends
standing by Billy Gaus
On March 31, Bill Gaus of
towel will be eight years old.
Birthdays are special to Billy,
possibly even more special to him
than to other children his age.
For the past two years Billy's life
has been a strugglefor survival.
Two years ago, on Easter Mon-
day morning about 10 o'clock,.
Billy swallowed a quantity of
drain cleaner., He had mistaken
the purple -colored liquid in a
clear container on the kitchen
cdvnter for grape juice. Imme-
diate efforts to control the effects
of the cleaner on his body were
unsuccessful. A number of opera-
tions and hospitals later, Billy is
still fighting for his life.
Billy found it hard to swallow
after the accident. The opening in
his throat, where normally food
would pass was affected by the
cleaner. Recently, doctors have
attempted to stretch the passage
in three operations performed at
the Sick Children's Hospital in
Toronto, where Billy has been a
patient for the past month. The
operations have not been a com-
plete success, but presently Billy
1s eating and drinking some foods
in .,the normal manner. .
"For three weeks he has been
fed diluted food sthrough a tube
leading to his stomach," said his
father, William Gaus.
Billy has not been alone in his
fight, His family has been close
by is side.
"If it had not been for close
friends and many people in Listo-
wel we could have never survived
the past two years," said Mrs.
Gaus.
"The Rotary Club of Listowel
has been standing by ever since it
happened," she said. "They have
aided in costs for treatments and
offered many tinges to help us
out."
Lis- gotten him either.
"His classmates in grade one
at Central are always sending
him cards and games they make
themselves," said Mrs. Gaus.
A former teacher, Mrs. Wilfred
Noble, sends Billy school work,
although classes are conducted at
the hospital in Toronto.
Billy misses his family, especi-
ally his new baby brother David,
who is only eight weeks old. Billy
has only seen David once, said
Mrs. Gaus.
He also misses running and
jumping and the hockey and foot-
ball games. During most of the
past two . years he has been con-
fined to a hospital bed. At present
he is allowed to sit in a wheel
chair for 15 to 20 minutes at a
time. Nurses at the•hospital read
to Billy. The television in his
room helps pass the time.
Circumstances have not made
a normal way of life possible for
Billy Gaus, but help from his
family, friends and many stran-
gers keeps him smiling.
LISTOWEL'S TIMMY is Billy Gaus, a patient at Sick Chil-
Billy's friends at Central Pub- dren's Hospital in Toronto. Billy will be eight -years -old on
lie School in Listowel haven't for- march 31. (Family Photo)
PHYSIOTHERAPY is important to children of all. ages at
Crippled Children's Centres.
( London District Crippled Children `Photo)
ACTIVITIES AT CENTRES—Even though many of the
children at the centres cannot get out of bed, school is not
forgotten. Individual lessons are often given.
(London District Crippled Children Photo)
CRIPPLED CHILDREN'S CENTRES are designed for the
handicapped and dedicated to their service. These centres
are lorated throughout Ontario.
( London District Crippled Children Photo)