by Raul Menchaca
AGUADA DE PASAJEROS, Cuba, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Five-year-old Marco Antonio's screaming echoed in a rehabilitation room at the Children's International Center for Neurological Restoration (CIREN), located in Cuba's southern province of Cienfuegos.
Marco wasn't in pain. He was upset due to a neurological disorder. Screaming was his way to express himself.
His mother, Yamile Sosa, explained her son was not only born premature after only 30 weeks of pregnancy, weighing just 1.5 kg, but also suffered from severe cerebral palsy.
"I quickly realized the child had problems, he was unable to crawl or sit," Sosa told Xinhua.
She sought medical help, and after visiting several hospitals, learned of CIREN, the only pediatric center in the country able to treat Marco's particular disorder. A similar center in Havana is for adults.
A year ago, Marquitos, as his mother calls the boy, was admitted to the facility located in the city of Aguada de Pasajeros, 200 km east of Havana, the capital of Cuba.
Following diagnosis by a multidisciplinary group of experts, he began to receive personalized treatment that has helped him stand up and even start walking little by little.
"He has evolved a lot," said Sosa, with a twinkle in her eyes.
"We can't make miracles," said Dr. Jose Vila, 68, who has headed CIREN over the past six years.
The secret to the center's success, he said, is the personalized treatment given to each patient as part of a regimen of eight hours daily, from Monday to Friday, in 28-day cycles to be repeated three or four times a year.
"We work on residual capabilities that are exploited to the maximum by specialized personnel," said Vila, who has worked abroad as a member of Cuban Medical Brigades in Iraq and Pakistan.
It's important to be "realistic about the child's condition," he said, adding that was how patients gradually made progress.
CIREN's 22-member staff, including physiotherapists, physiatrists, speech therapists and psychologists, treat different kinds of neurological disorders.
Cerebral palsy is the most common condition. They have also treated quadriparesis, hemiparesis, spastic diplegia, arthrogryposis and cranial traumas.
The institution was founded in 2003 after a nationwide study of the neurological needs of Cuban children. The results of the survey came as seven families in Aguada de Pasajeros calld on the center in Havana to help their children.
Fourteen years later, 100 to 120 children from around the country received treatment at the institution each year.
One notable facet of the center is that it also helps train family members who accompany the children, so they can continue the treatment at home.
Sosa is among them. She has learned techniques to facilitate her son's rehabilitation, hoping that one day he "will overcome or at least ease his disorders."
