Traveling with Hamilton is

University of Connecticut Professor Dr. Ronnie Leavitt and occupational

therapist Maital London-Levy. Leavitt and London-Levy both have previous

experience with doing this kind of outreach in both the Caribbean and

in Africa. The team is going to spend a week in Abaco from Dec. 8 through

Dec. 15. The team will not be only seeing children at the school, but

also in the outlying towns to the north and south where the children live

too far away to attend the special needs school.

Major originally realized there

was a need for this type of facility on the island since there are no

medical facilities to speak of on the island - other than a few private

practice doctors. Any medical care needed by the residents must be done

in Nassau (on the neighboring island of New Providence - about 100 miles

south), or perhaps in Florida if the resident can afford to get there.

There are no physical therapists on the island and the school is funded

entirely by private donations.

The team will be providing

much needed training in several areas. They will instruct teachers on

how to best meet the learning and physical needs of the children who suffer

from a range of cognitive and physical disabilities. Through donations

Hamilton has managed to raise the funds necessary to fly the three to

Abaco and has obtained donated housing for the week they are there.

"My hope is that I can

continue to build the momentum so that we can get the specialists over

there several times a year to help train the teachers, families and volunteers

how to best help these children," she said. "Because the school

is funded entirely by donations means that they have no budget to hire

in outside help, so the fact that these professionals were willing to

donate a week of their time for free was key in getting this to happen."

Hamilton adds that monetary

donations would be very welcome, as the school has very limited funds

to buy things like wheelchairs, walkers, assistive devices, and various

tools to enable the children to learn effectively.

For more information, please

contact Hamilton at 770-961-3668 or [email protected].