Candace Wickham who, not many moons ago, appeared comfortable and content with the responsibilities associated with serving, over several years, as Head of Speech and Language Therapy at Georgetown Public Hospital, took a decision that she could satisfy the ‘calling’ of a profession that she had held dear, over time, whilst, simultaneously immersing herself in a business pursuit that could satisfy her wish for an enhanced quality of life.
Over time she has metamorphosed from being a public sector Health Professional to becoming the Proprietrix and Chief Executive Officer of Pro Care Therapy and Wellness Centre, a facility situated at 181-182, Sunflower Circle, South Ruimveldt and designed to execute critical responsibilities associated with the health and wellness of the nation’s children. Officially, Candace is designated a Speech and Language Specialist, the title given to a qualified and registered health professional who assesses and treats individuals, children, in Candace’s instance with communication needs, investigating and treating disorders related to speech, language, communication, eating, and drinking difficulties challenges. Reflecting on the new road that she now travels Candace told the Stabroek Business during a recent interview that she was “living out” her “purpose” and that “every day marks the fulfillment of my purpose on earth.”
By sheer but altogether apt coincidence Candace was born on December 3, the day set aside to recognize and identify with persons born with a disabilities that pose critical challenges. That coincidence, she says, positions her to fulfill what she has decided is “my mission.” Pro Care Therapy and Wellness Centre offers various therapy-related interventions for children, with speech, language and (by extension) learning abilities. There are also places at the Centre for children stricken by behaviour-related challenges, cognitive development deficiencies, memory and social interaction limitations, which, taken together, creates limitations that robs the children of critical abilities associated with normal behaviour. These can be serious physical, cognitive and intellectual impairments, which, if not managed through specialized therapy can leave the children acutely ‘disabled.’
working with a pupil helping to strengthen fine motor skills, work on tripod positions which will help to strengthen the pupil hand muscles which is responsible for writing and holding pencils and crayons correctly
In 2011, Candace returned home from Cuba after reading for a degree in Speech and Language Therapy. Her new qualification positioned her to be appointed Head of the Speech and Language Therapy Department at the Public Hospital, Georgetown. The responsibilities associated with her new designation required her to travel to communities across Guyana to conduct capacity building –related training with health sector staff as well as to meet and interact with families through workshops and seminars in order to raise awareness of her mission. Crucially, part of her responsibility embraced conducting sessions with Care Givers, including parents whose task it was to execute therapeutic interventions. Beyond her work-related obligations, Candace also found herself pressed into service by friends and relatives who encountered similar challenges within their own families.
It was the experience of her own numerous ‘private’ interventions along with her exposure to Diagnostic Centres in Cuba that persuaded Candace of the need for a structured facility equipped to provide these services. It was here, Candace says, that the idea of becoming directly involved in the creation of such a facility was born. While, subsequently, the state created a Diagnostic Centre of its own, this did not deter Candace from creating a private facility. In March 2015, at the conclusion of her contractual obligation to the Government of Guyana, Candace tendered her resignation as an employee of the state and immediately thereafter, created the Pro Care and Wellness Centre. She ploughed her savings into the venture to allow for the purchase of equipment and resources that included furniture, maps and charts. Her immediate expenses also included the premises she rented in Kingston.
Candace told the Stabroek Business that limited affordability meant that for eight years hers was a one woman show, the facility providing, at its inception, Language and Speech Therapy for children. The intervention of COVID-19 in 2020 was an experience that she would much rather forget. The national physical and emotional derailment associated with the malady meant that she was forced to abandon her Kingston work space, replacing that facility with a scaled down home service. Eventually, the diminished viability of the venture meant that she had her to close its doors. Her business now broken Candace migrated to the United States in 2021 where she spent six months seeking employment… unsuccessfully. She returned to Guyana in 2022. Thereafter, she applied for and secured a loan of three hundred and sixty thousand dollars from the Small Business Bureau.
This, coupled with which allowed her to re-start her operations locally in September 2022. Up to this time she has invested approximately G$5 million in her re-launched venture.
It was while she was contemplating a suitable name for her re-launched facility, Candace told the Stabroek Business that she saw a television presentation by President Irfaan Ali on health and wellness that persuaded her that her persistence was taking her in the right direction. Candace has since moved on. In March this year she assembled a team of therapists, specialists in various facets of the discipline specialists in Speech and Language and other disciplines linked to the services which she now provides. The former Public Servant told the Stabroek Business that she believes that the services that she provides plays a vital role in enhancing the lives of both parents and children, parents extracting a great deal of emotional relief from the enrichment that she brings to the lives of their children.
The challenges of dealing with children commonly referred to in Guyana as ‘special needs’ children can ‘deliver’ severe physical and emotional challenges for parents which is why, she believes, her services are making a difference. Coping with all of the various ‘needs’ of children with social and emotional challenges can be a great deal more demanding than is obvious to parents and guardians who do not face such challenges. In some instances, she says, parents are required to provide mundane services that include routine assignments which ‘normal’ children routinely execute on their own. It does not hurt, she said if parents can find a measure of support by engaging professionals who can help them cope with such challenges.
