Physical Health Poland Project #47356

Rehabilitation center for 60 disabled in Poland

by Fundacja im. Doktora Piotra Janaszka PODAJ DALEJ/ Doctor Piotr Janaszek PAY IT FORWARD Foundation

Rehabilitation center for 60 disabled in Poland

Project Report | Aug 7, 2023
"Come on, let's get out of here!"

By Filip Sobieszek | Project Leader

PAY IT FORWARD - Anna Pyrzanowska

"Come on, let's get out of here!" – an old lady suggested. She was lying with me in a room at the Warsaw Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. I was treated there for another episode of severe depression, which "took over" me for the first time when I was 25 years old. I had been in a bad condition. I had been living, but in a different world. And yet, on that hot, August Sunday, I succumbed to the persuasions of my neighbor, mobilized the last of my strength and left the hospital with her.

I climbed the stairs to the footbridge over the busy street, then I saw an elevator, and on it a sticker with the international sign of people with disabilities - a white outline of a man in a wheelchair on a blue background. There was a holding bar by the elevator. I grabbed it, did a flip, and threw myself down onto the sidewalk. My companion, screaming, managed to grab me by the ankle of one of my legs. But she didn't have the strength to hold me… I fell. I survived. I was 30 years old…

Someone called an ambulance. They took me to the hospital. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a fracture of the cervical spine with a disruption of the spinal cord and a fracture of the left shin. I was completely paralyzed. But I found it out much later… Afterwards, I was taken to a rehabilitation center. After back and leg surgery. After 8 months of lying in a collar around my neck, connected to a ventilator, blood pressure monitor and pulse oximeter, naked, with a diaper on my butt, covered with a green hospital sheet. When the tracheostomy tube was finally removed from my throat and I was able to speak, then I found out that the only gesture I will make in my life is ... a slight shoulder shrug.

When I was leaving the hospital, no one knew what to do with me. So I returned home. To a 2-room apartment on the first floor of a block without an elevator in Anin near Warsaw. Under the wings of my elderly parents, including a father who was fighting cancer back then. I knew that neither they would last long taking care of an adult daughter, who even had to be fed, because she would not be able to hold anything in her hands, nor would I be able to continue living without proper rehabilitation, and there was no room for such in our apartment. We decided with my parents and friends to find a new "home" for me - a center with 24-hour care.

And so my great journey has began… I had to pay 9,000 PLN per month for the first resort. Although family and friends collected every penny for me, I did not manage to "anchor" myself there for a longer period of time. I was 2 weeks in the second center for 2 weeks. The building was beautiful and well equipped, but the employees were completely unable to take care of a person with quadriplegia. I spent 5 years in the third center, including 2020, which was tragic for the world and the time of the great COVID-19 pandemic. Such places are infamously referred to as “centers for dying”. I was accommodated with elderly people whose minds were taken over by dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Old age was my companion every day. It terrified me at first. Then I started to learn maturity and serenity from it. And after December 2020, I moved to center number 4. Also living with people with fleeting memories and often forgotten by others. I was there for… 7 days. Promises were made at the reception: that I would eat with all the residents in the one room, that they would put me in an upright position and sit me on a wheelchair, that they would come to my aid whenever I would need it – those promises were quickly forgotten. A friend helped me to "escape". I returned to my family's apartment. Not for long… Fortunately…

Another friend told me about training apartments for people with disabilities in Konin. I didn't even know such places existed. That you can actually stay there, learn to live on your own and rehabilitate yourself. I went to the Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s “Podaj Dalej” Foundation's website., which has created this project. I filled out the form and had an interview. I applied in the summer, because I am always terribly cold. In July 2021 I started living again.

How is it here? First of all: no one is afraid of us, people with disabilities. Assistants, caretakers know perfectly well how to grab us, hold us, lift us, move us so as not to hurt us or ourselves. They don't sigh that someone needs something again, they don't ignore us, they don't turn away from us, they don't look at us with disgust. Secondly, nobody here feels sorry for us. They help us out when it is absolutely necessary. They help us if we really need it. And they teach every activity, often finding unconventional solutions when we cannot do something “traditionally”.

Allow me to briefly summarize. My name is Anna and I am 37 years old. For the first time in 7 years: I eat alone with a spoon held by a rubber band on my hand, I brush my teeth and my body by myself, I use an active manual wheelchair myself, I wipe the table top with a cloth, I mop the floor myself, I turn the pages in a book myself and I slide my finger across the screen of my smartphone. For someone who couldn't lift a glass of water to his mouth by himself six months ago, that's pretty good, right...?

What do I regret? The fact that for 7 years no one told me that there are places like training apartments. When I was falling down in 2014, the “Podaj Dalej” Foundation was just starting this project. Now it develops by preparing new training apartments in Osada Janaszkowo ... Please, make everyone else, who happens to "fall", get up faster than me.

(The text was written and published on January 28, 2022)

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Aug 4, 2023
Why did Marysia become a Great Explorer after 40?

By Filip Sobieszek | Project Leader

PAY IT FORWARD - Maria Stuczynska

“Ma’am, why are you crying?”

Someone asked in a cordial tone, and when my mother looked up, she saw a figure of a man in a doctor's coat bent over her with his face adorned with glasses. It was 1978, I was 3 years old then and I was waiting for my mother, lying in bed in the children's ward in the hospital in our hometown of Konin. And my Mom had just found out that the femur of my left leg was attacked by a malignant tumor and to stop the disease, the leg had to be amputated. Doctor Piotr Janaszek, a specialist in orthopedics and rehabilitation, was interested why Mom was sitting alone in the hospital corridor, bursting in tears.

“Write to Poznan, to prof. Wiktor Dega"

"He's an outstanding orthopedic surgeon." Please ask him for help. And the right words will be dictated by your heart - Doctor Janaszek suggested to my mother and gave her the address of the clinic in Poznan, where prof. Dega worked. Mom had written and sent a letter dictated by love and fear, and the Professor replied within a week, inviting us for a consultation. - There will be no amputation. We'll remove the cancer from the bones. We're going to save this leg. But I warn you: it won't be easy, said the Professor, after he had seen me and all the results of my examinations.

It really wasn't easy.

After a long operation, I was still undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Intensive, hard rehabilitation also began, so that I could physically develop like my peers. This lasted for several years, also during martial law in Poland (1981-1983). When Mom wanted to visit me in the hospital, she had to apply for a special pass, which gave her the right to leave Konin and enter Poznan. So I was mostly alone in the hospital. Not only because of the difficulties in traveling. At home, my parents also had to perform their jobs and take care of my three siblings.

“There is my student in Konin. Please stick with him."

This was recommended by Prof. Dega when he discharged me home after the treatment. In this way, I found myself under the constant care of Doctor Janaszek, whom we simply called “Doctor Piotr”. And Doctor Piotr's rehabilitation ward did not resemble a hospital at all. We didn't wear pajamas all day at Doctor Piotr's, but tracksuits. At Doctor Piotr’s, we filled the time between hard exercises with games and activities in various interest clubs. There was no silence at Doctor Piotr's, only children's chatter interspersed with jam sessions played on African drums performed by the Doctor himself.
The holidays were the highlight of the year.

Because during the holidays, Doctor Piotr organized joint scouting camps for disabled and healthy children in Mielnica. From the first ones, to which I went as a 7-year-old, I have only small flashes of memories. However, I remember perfectly well the ones I went to as a 10-11-year-old girl scout. To this day, I can hear the melody "Wake-up wake up - give water to the horses!", which Doctor Piotr played on the trumpet at 7.00 a.m. in the morning to wake up the whole camp. And then everyone had to get up, regardless of condition and disability. The principle was simple: if you are fitter than the rest, help the less fit ones. To this day, I remember the camps in Mielnica with their bonfires, where Doctor Piotr played the guitar, kayaking trips, splashing in the lake and first crushes. Holidays in Mielnica also taught me empathy, understanding, and selflessness in helping others. And it stayed with me to this day, however my…

…life outside of rehab followed the usual path.The cancer has retreated and so far has not attacked me again. Thanks to rehabilitation, I was able to move on my own. I graduated from primary school and then vocational school with a commercial profile. And I probably would have studied further or gone to work, but I met my husband, gave birth to two sons within a few years and stayed at home. I took care of my family and waited calmly for the time when I would take care of myself again. And when that time had come...

First, I became a volunteer.

When my boys got older and they were away from home more and more, I decided that I could get involved in something new. The fact that I will be a volunteer at the Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s Foundation PAY IT FORWARD was completely natural for me. By helping the Foundation in its daily work, I had the feeling that I was giving back at least some of the goodness that I received from Doctor Piotr. Over time, it turned out that I give so much of these good things and I do it so well (I completed a disabled person's assistant course) that I was awarded the honorable title of Volunteer of the Year 2020 of the city of Konin. And then I took two steps back in time to…

… build my future.First of all: I enrolled in a supplementary high school and I, a woman in my 40s, was studying with my sons in order to take my final exams in near future. Secondly: I went... to summer camps for disabled children organized by the Doctor Piotr’s Foundation. This time as a volunteer, guardian of "Little Explorers" - because that's what the camps and their participants are called. And I went there to check in practice whether I, a former colonist, was suitable for a colony tutor. Because I, as a former disabled child, had such a plan for the rest of my life, to help other disabled children. Does it work for me? Probably yes, since my sons look with envy at the joy I give to"Little Explorers" and complain that I am more firm with them. They also wonder what it will look like when I get my driving license and will be commuting to Osada Janaszkowo by car, every day. But there are so many "Little Explorers" who need help to become Great.

The text was written and published on June 22, 2021.

PAY IT FORWARD - Maria Stuczynska

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Jul 28, 2023
Family picnic - tradition in Janaszkowo Settlement

By Filip Sobieszek | Project Leader

PAY IT FORWARD - Family Picnic

Family picnic – a wonderful tradition at the start of summer in Janaszkowo Settlement.

Baking trays with dozens of cakes land on the tables. Every mom brings at least one: cheesecake, yogurt cake, yeast cake, Ukrainian baklava, muffins and gluten-free shortbread cookies. There’s also coffee, juice, water and music. There are soap bubbles, and the most family atmosphere in the whole world. Family Picnic organized by Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s PAY IT FORWARD Foundation is a joyful and colorful sign of upcoming summer holidays. Everyone loves it.

It’s not just a simple picnic at the start of summer holidays. It’s not only a tasting of delicious cakes and a bonfire reaching cloud level where you can find mouthwatering sausages. It’s not only fun and games for children, inflatable slides, facepainting and temporary tattoos found in bubble gum. Above all it is an opportunity for the foundation family to meet. It’s endless conversations, storytelling, reporting on the past school year, mutual support and help. Like at home, like in the family.

- For me, a person who has been a part of Foundation for a short time, things happening here are wonderful, family atmosphere, support, help and kindness is like being as happy as a flea in a doghouse. I love being part of this. I’m not afraid to say that the Foundation is my family. Because this is how we feel, like in a family. My son Bogus loves coming back here. For the first time when he was participating in summer camps organized by the Foundation he experienced things that he will always remember, especially people he met. We thank you with all our hearts for everything – says Ms. Monika. There was a lot of fun, laughter and joy! Everyone found something for themselves. Iwona, Anna, Dorota and the volunteers, as usual, surprised us with their creativity and amazing, good energy.

This year, as in the previous year, the children from Ukraine, Foundation’s charges, also took part in the picnic.

- This is our second picnic together with the Foundation’s charges, and we always admire the atmosphere, how friendly, helpful and close people are to each other. We just feel at home here – said Amelia from Ukraine.

Mrs. Magosia has a son with autism and cannot imagine what their life would look like without the Foundation.

- Our world revolves around the Foundation. It was at the Foundation where we learned to accept what life brings. You can enjoy your life in every situation, and this is what we, parents and our son, have learned over the years thanks to the Foundation. Today, we formed one big support group. The people are fantastic here. I can’t imagine my life without PAY IT FORWARD! – says Magosia.

The picnic brings together families that are associated with the Foundation. There are charges, their families, specialists, therapists, assistants and volunteers. Each of them are doing a truly amazing job at the Foundation. The picnic, apart from being a great opportunity to have fun (soap bubbles and cotton candy broke popularity records this year!), is also an important meeting, conversations, games, competitions, confessions and simply spending time together. See you on the picnic!

P.S.

Popcorn and cotton candy were served by the volunteers, thanks to our Friends from Smurfit Kappa! You DO know what children like the most! <3

Text by Agata Kaminska-Brice

The most beautiful pictures were done by Mikoaj Kaminski

PAY IT FORWARD - Family Picnic

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