International Disability Day was commemorated last month, and Port Shepstone Regional Hospital encouraged its occupational therapists to understand disability with the aim of providing care and services to the disabled.
Community service officer, Kirsten Smith said one of the core values the therapeutic profession is constructed on is to understand disability, with the aim of providing care and services to improve both the quality of life of an individual and their ability to engage meaningfully in their own environment and in occupations which are important to them.
In celebration of International Disability Day, the hospital visited two homes where they handed over motorised wheelchairs to two patients.
Hospital PRO, Phumza Morai said the patients and their families were also given training from both the occupational therapist and wheelchair repairer on how to operate and maintain the chairs.
“The motorised wheelchairs were handed to these patients with the intention of providing them with mobility which would enable them to move around efficiently and safely,” said Morai.
One of the recipients mother, Ngabisile Lushaba said she will not forget this day because she was a laughing stock in the community.
She said that her daughter, Wendy will now have access to various community activities.
The second recipient’s mother, Zibuyile Ngcobo said she was very happy to see her son, Lusanda in a motorised wheelchair.
“Lusanda is currently not registered in any school because schools are far away from where we live, and considering his condition it was impossible for him to attend any school,” said the tearful mother.
Smith concluded by saying she hoped that the motorised wheelchairs will play a role in providing Wendy and Lusanda more accessibility to their environments and opportunity to engage in their communities, with the goal of creating a more ‘accessible and equitable’ world.
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