Disability Awareness Month: new centre focuses on gain, not loss

Source: ©supplied. Keegan Keeble a client of the Centre

The practitioners had the idea for the centre while working together within the same rehabilitation facility in 2019.

Despite their diverse backgrounds and fields of study, they shared a common vision to tackle the most complex of rehabilitation cases using a science driven approach. This approach combines innovation and expertise from multiple fields to promote optimal physical and cognitive recovery.

Based in Kenilworth, Enable Centre is fully equipped and technologically-inclined which will enhance the multi-disciplinary treatment provided.

They also want to bridge the divide between public and private health care in South Africa. High quality, individualised private care carries a large price tag, making it inaccessible to the majority of the population. This shouldn’t be the status quo.

Operating as an NPO, the centre will provides access to all who need care. Key to the centre is to provide rehabilitation services to all. Initial funding has been secured to provide subsidised rehabilitation services.

New advancements

The new treatment centre along with its team of experienced therapists offers a range of treatments including biokinetics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and hydrotherapy.

But what sets the centre apart is the new technological and scientific advancements. It is easy to slip into a comfort zone of using basic equipment and not expanding one’s horizons.

“Although we are careful to not jump onto any so-called ‘fads’, we are quick to adapt and integrate technologies and techniques that have a strong scientific backing.

”Some of the technology used at the centre includes neuromuscular electrical stimulation; electromyography; biofeedback balance training; body-weight supported training; suspension therapy; vibration therapy; exer-gaming; blood flow restriction training and hydrotherapym" say the centre founders.

Additional services will include dietetics, clinical and neuro-psychology, wheelchair seating and botox clinics.

“Establishing the Enable Centre is a mammoth but exhilarating task! Bringing a team of over 10 health care practitioners together to service hundreds of clients is a daunting prospect.

“The support our team has received in this venture has been overwhelming. It is comforting to know we are doing the right thing and that many lives will be touched and improved through the work we do,” says the Enable team.

Disability Rights Awareness Month is observed from 3 November to 3 December each year