“Early Intervention” during a Pandemic

The pandemic declared at the national level at the beginning of 2020 required the service “Early intervention to prevent the abandonment of children with disabilities” to be adequately adapted and upgraded in order to provide support to parents and respond to their needs. The home visits of the Early Intervention Center team have been adapted into online meetings-consultations, through Skype connections, video chats, conference calls. As a positive result of the changes that occurred in the provision of the service, the expansion of its scope, beyond the borders of the city of Varna and the country, was reported.

Thanks to funding from the Medicor Foundation, the service supports families outside the city of Varna.

Funding from the Karin Dom Foundation makes it possible for the Early Intervention Center to work with families on the verge of poverty, families from minorities, as well as with disadvantaged children – children placed in foster families, children from the Central Children’s Hospital. In this way, the good intersectoral partnership at the local level is strengthened.

Thanks to the Medicor Foundation, the children from the Early Intervention Center and the Center for Social Rehabilitation and Integration Karin Dom are given the opportunity to conduct a medical examination with a child psychiatrist from the city of Varna.

Every year, the Early Intervention Center team celebrates World Day of Premature Children and International Day of People with Down Syndrome by holding information meetings for parents, meetings with medical specialists, partner meetings with representatives of the Municipality of Varna, health and social institutions, at which current problems are discussed, successes and achievements at the local and national level are shared. The team arranges consultations, which are funded by Medicare and are free for families.

The Team is about to organize another campaign dedicated to November 17th, the Day of Premature Children, which will again be within the framework of the Karin Dom Foundation’s partnership with the Medicor Foundation.