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SPECIAL CHILDREN IN SIBU FIND COMFORT IN ANEW RONALD McDONALD SNOEZELEN ROOMSibu, 10 MAY 2007 - Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities Fund of Malaysia (RMHC) built and handed over a Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room to Agape Centre, Sibu, in a ceremony officiated by the Minister of Finance II, Minister of Urban Development & Tourism Sarawak cum Chairman of Sibu Community Services Association, YB Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh today. The Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room™ at Agape Centre is the first ever in the state of Sarawak and it is also the third in Malaysia. This Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room represents a community project initiated by RMHC to benefit the Agape Centre to help the underprivileged children. Snoezelen Room provides a full range of sensory stimulation and enjoyable experience in an atmosphere of comfort and relaxation. Snoezelen is a Multisensory Stimulating Room which arouses the 4 primary senses of Sight, Hearing, Touch and Smell, for both the interactive and the passive user. The room’s main objective is to achieve relaxation and improve attention span amongst the special children who using the room. Research has shown that the room can help to reduce hyperactivity, self-inflicted injuries and socially disturbing behavior. It also provides a conducive environment for therapist to treat the child.
RMHC President, Puan Fadillah Yakin said “RMHC has so far built and opened two Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room in the Society For the Severely Mentally Handicapped Selangor and Federal Territory (SSMH) centre in Petaling Jaya and Bethany Home in Perak. The room has been known to work wonders for children with special needs, and based on its usefulness amongst the special children. I am confident that the special children here at the Agape Centre will benefit from it too. In line with RMHC’s objective of helping kids in the areas of health and education, we are planning to build several more of such facilities in centers for children with disabilities throughout the country in the near future. This year, RMHC is expecting to open two more Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room at Persatuan Sindrome Down Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and Yayasan Orang Kurang Upaya Kelantan in Kota Bharu.” In his speech to officially open the facility, Minister of Finance II, Minister of Urban Development & Tourism Sarawak cum Chairman of Sibu Community Services Association, YB Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh thanked RMHC for this meaningful donation to the special children in Agape Centre. He said that the donation is a good example of McDonald’s caring corporate citizenship. Through it’s charity arm, RMHC, McDonald’s Malaysia lends a helping hand to the underprivileged, especially children. Visiting the room as part of the opening ceremony, children could be seen looking on in wonder as they touched the glowing fibre optic vinyl-covered strands in the Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room, the walls of which were illuminated with coloured lights. Sweet smelling fragrance filled the air while soothing music could be heard in the background. The specially designed room helps to stimulate and enhance the senses of touch, sight, smell and hearing.
The first Ronald McDonald Snoezelen Room in Malaysia, which cost RM50,000 was built at the Society For the Severely Mentally Handicapped Selangor and Federal Territory (SSMH) centre in Petaling Jaya in 1999. The second room, which is larger and has more equipment built at a cost of RM100,000 at Bethany Home, Perak in 2005. This third room was built at Agape Centre cost RM98,300. Snoezelen Rooms are renowned worldwide for its ability to provide sensory stimulation to its users and improves interaction among the special children. |
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