Adult Rehabilitation – A model halfway home project for Paraplegic patients was opened in Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences (TIPS), Arumana Hospital, on the 24th of March 2015.
Funded by Department of Social Justice, Kerala, the project will house 4 paraplegic patients in a month, who have completed their acute care already. The physical, functional, psycho-social, sexual and spiritual rehabilitation of these patients will be done in the specially designed facility in TIPS. The faculty of TIPS will be supported by consultants in all disciplines. Here the patients on their way home will be trained so as to help them lead improved quality of life, with very less dependence on family and community. The model thus worked out will be submitted to the Department of Social Justice with the lessons learnt by the team along with other recommendations.
The bedroom, kitchen and toilet in the facility are disabled-friendly. The stay of an individual patient (with one relative) is for a minimum of two weeks and in special cases may exceed this, but not beyond three months. A questionnaire was developed to assess the patient on admission and on discharge. The findings and observations will be formulated as recommendations and will be submitted to Department of Social Justice periodically.
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