Hippotherapy helps disabled children

• Hippotherapy at the Sluníčko Early Care Centre continues also this year
• Thirty families are using the service
• The T-Mobile Fund contributed funds to this program for the second year in a row

Prague, 9 April 2008 - Although it does not look much like spring outside, thirty children from the Hradec Králové region are looking forward to their first ride on a horse or a pony. Some of them will ride for the first time, while others are more experienced as they already started hippotherapy treatment last year, when the Sluníčko Early Care Centre began offering this service to families with disabled children as a complementary treatment to the reflex locomotion therapy.

"Hippotherapy has shown remarkable results and Sluníčko provides this treatment at a highly professional level. It is a very important and efficient form of help to disabled children and their families," says Martina Kemrová, Head of Corporate Communication at T-Mobile. The T-Mobile Fund contributed CZK 50,000 for hippotherapy treatment at the Sluníčko Centre.

Hippotherapy is one of the natural treatment methods. Thanks to the three-dimensional movement of the horse, the child's body and muscles are forced to adapt to the sinusoid of the horseback, which leads to a continuous alternation of tension and relaxation of the child's muscles, even if the body is totally passive. Children with disabilities can improve their posture, walking skills, coordination, balance and motor development. Hippotherapy also helps to reduce muscular tension, develop new movements and their coordination, improve and strengthen sensomotoric skills and the child's self-confidence, and supports the adaptability of individual participants in the therapy.

"Supervision of a professional therapist is absolutely necessary and all children undergo a thorough medical examination before starting hippotherapy treatment," says Radka Odehnalová, Director of the Sluníčko Early Care Centre. "Thirty of the 43 families attending our centre expressed their interest in hippotherapy treatment."

The Sluníčko Early Care Centre was established in 2004 as part of the Regional Charity in Hradec Králové. It provides specialized care and consultancy services to families with children under seven years of age who suffer from mental, physical or combined disabilities, or children whose future development is endangered. "The care is provided to the whole families, not just children. Our aim is to help the children live without having to stay in healthcare institutions, and gradually integrate in the life of the healthy people," says Radka Odehnalová. Therefore, the experts from the Sluníčko Centre regularly visit the families at their homes. This is one of the basic principles of early care - free-of-charge specialized voluntary care should be supported by active participation of the families.  

Sluníčko cooperates with the T-Mobile Fund for the second year in a row. This project received a grant from the T-Mobile Fund also last year.

Funding designated for the Hradec Králové region is administered by the VIA Foundation, which has selected 26 projects within this year's grant program to receive a total amount of CZK 1.4 million.

More information is available from: Radka Odehnalová, e-mail: slunicko@hk.caritas.cz, tel.: 777721642; www.hk.caritas.cz/ochhk.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.