Disability Services in Kenya

Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel to Nairobi with a team from the hospital to see what other hospitals are offering with respect to rehab and what equipment they have. CURE has been invited to put together a proposal for a therapeutic play room and so we went to do some research.

We were gone for over 12 hours, so it was a very long day. But I really enjoyed it and learned a lot! I love learning about disability services, and it was great to see what Kenya is doing. We visited three different facilities, as well as a bunch of shops to pick up hospital supplies and to price items for our proposal.

First stop was the Association for Physically Disabled in Kenya. They had a very modern rehab department that looked very similar to anything you might find in North America, if not nicer. The funnest part for me was their wheelchair workshop. They manufacture all of the custom wheelchairs for Kenya. For all you wheelchair people out there, check out the front castors on this chair! They know how to make chairs for rough terrain!

We also visited Gertrude's Children's Hospital, very nice also with a great rehab department and very friendly staff. I was very popular yesterday with all the Kenyan OTs we met! I love meeting other OTs, no matter where I am in the world!

Our third stop was a private hospital that looked like a 5 star resort from the outside. It had marble floors, balconies. Very chi chi! However, besides their hydrotherapy pool, they don't really have any OT services. Overall, a GREAT day!

I'm not usually a flower picture taker, but this is a real life poinsettia tree! They grow everywhere around here and apparently are always flowering, not like us at Christmas!