Rehabilitation Centre

The Rehabilitation Department at Kisiizi Hospital was opened in 2000. It offers Physiotherapy, Occupational, and Orthopaedic services. These services are offered to patients as outpatients, in patients and in the community. The services are mostly offered to disabled people from the 4 sub counties of Rukungiri district. The majority of the disabled patients are very poor to afford to access the services and a community based rehabilitation service was established to try to take the services to those who can’t access the rehabilitation centre.

Department:
The rehabilitation centre at Kisiizi Hospital was opened in 2000 with the mission statement “To provide access to quality rehabilitation services for all patients with disabilities and their families.” It offers physiotherapy, occupational therapy and orthopaedic services. Our services cover inpatients on the wards, outpatients and also disabled people in the community. Kisiizi Hospital is situated in a rural area of south west Uganda and so the patients who are accessing our services come from far and wide to receive treatment. The majority of disabled patients are very poor with little or no income and have real difficulty accessing these services which are vitally important to them. A community based rehabilitation service was established to try and take the services to those who are unable to access the rehabilitation centre.

Our department consists of a large physiotherapy gym, plaster room and store plus an adjoining occupational therapy department and a small wood workshop. The centre also has a 26 bedded rehabilitation dormitory, cultivated garden and rehabilitation kitchen.

Physiotherapy gym and Inside OT

Staff: Our staff currently consists of an orthopaedic officer who is the head of department, 2 physiotherapists, 1 occupational therapist, 1 rehabilitation assistant, 1 community based rehabilitation worker and 1 carpenter.

Rehab senior staff outside the new extension

Occupational Therapy: The OT has significant input into the psychiatric ward and works together with the physiotherapists in managing patients with physical disabilities both on the wards and in the community. The OT assists patients in managing activities of daily living and works alongside the carpenter in making equipment and aids to improve functional independence e.g. by making commode chairs, CP seats, standing frames.

OT and CBR worker making CP chair OT at work

Orthopaedics: Orthopaedic conditions are managed conservatively in the hospital with manipulation, plastering or traction. Other cases requiring orthopaedic surgery are referred to the nearest national referral hospital with orthopaedic services. The orthopaedic officer has undergone extensive training in the management of clubfoot in children and we now offer this service to children as soon as they are identified at birth to try and prevent them from needing surgery when they are older.

Baby with clubfeet Orthopaedic officer at work

Physiotherapy: Physiotherapy offer services to both adults and children as inpatients, outpatients and in the community. The patients accessing physiotherapy have a wide range of conditions and disabilities including cerebral palsy, Downs syndrome, developmental delay, post operative patients, amputees, burns, post fracture patients requiring mobilization, stroke, malaria, HIV/AIDS related illnesses, neurological conditions, arthritis and soft tissue injuries.

Physiotherapists at work

Community Rehabilitation: We have a community based rehabilitation (CBR) worker who travels on a motorbike to the surrounding villages to assess and treat patients. There are monthly outreach clinics in 9 parishes surrounding Kisiizi which the CBR worker attends to sensitise the community, assess and treat the patients. He is also involved with home visits and following up patients who have been discharged from hospital but who require further input and are unable to stay as an inpatient in the rehab ward.

Hannington (CBR worker) in community Hannington with disabled patient

Carpentry: The rehabilitation carpenter uses local materials to make equipment such as wooden crutches, standing frames, corner seats and commode chairs. This enables patients to become more independent in their own homes.

CP children with equipment made from local materials by our carpenter

Recent Developments.
Rehabilitation Dormitory Extension: Due to increasing numbers of patients, in 2007 an extension to the rehabilitation dormitory was completed with money kindly donated by the Lord Patriarch Banks Trust.

Playground: A playground has recently been constructed at the rehabilitation centre to help with the outdoor treatment of disabled children.

NEWS

• Download the latest News from the Rehabilitation Department - Dec 2009
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