The Nurses Training School
The NTS is on the main road about 500 yards from the accommodation.
There are roughly 130 young women and 2 young men in years 1 – 3 of their Nurses Training. Most of the girls live in cramped dormitories. The boys travel in each day. Their needs are for spoken language experience and fun/sports activities to bring interest to their lives. They are deeply appreciative of anything volunteers do for them.
Volunteers who are qualified nurses and doctors may also be involved in delivering training to the nursing students subject to approval by the Principal and it fitting in with their curriculum. A copy of this is available to download from the Volunteer Documents page.
FORT VSL
Physiotherapy Rehabilitation Centre for the less privileged
A new project called ‘Fort VSL’ was initiated by the Volunteer Sri Lanka Project. The project was created by Mr. Janaka de Silva the project Director of ‘VSL’ and Dr. Nishanta Gunasekera, Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya.
Vision of this project
Our vision is to enable people with disabilities to improve their efficiency and achieve the best quality of life possible.
Our mission
Our mission Is to establish a Therapy Centre for active rehabilitation that includes physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychological therapy, social services and other professional support services of an international standard.
Background
Rehabilitation in its complete form is a relatively neglected concept in this region of the world.
Rehabilitation of patients that require such intervention encompasses a broad spectrum of therapies including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, osteopathy, speech therapy, psychological support and social support. The aim is to support patients until they are reintegrated to their premorbid state, be it going back to regular work or stable in their daily functions.
Sri Lanka provides some limited services, but on the whole, it is inadequate in catering for the large number of patients that have both chronic and acute conditions relating to:
• trauma – brain and spinal cord injuries
• degenerative conditions of the brain and spine
• tumour related disabilities
• haemorrhage related disabilities
• congenital disabilities
• stroke related disabilities
Each of these broad categories has many patients with different degrees of disability be it physical, speech related, psychological, work related or social. It is envisaged that our Rehabilitation Centre will eventually cater for ALL of the above patients, starting with physiotherapy and expanding to its fullest in the years to come.
There will be direct collaboration with overseas therapists on a visiting basis to guide, support and expand the project.