Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
ST Giles Medical Rehabilitation Centre has become a shining beacon of specialised rehabilitation services with patients giving testimony of the good work being done at the centre.
At the age of 21 and studying for a Business Management degree programme in Spain, 21-year-old Elton Muranganwa never imagined he would return home in a wheelchair after he slipped and fell over the stairs.
He is, however, on the road to recovery, thanks to specialised rehabilitation services at St Giles.
“I had lost hope and I thought I would never recover, I never thought at this age I would end up in a wheelchair but when I came here, I realised there were other people but they were getting better so I got optimistic and I started getting the motivation to work on myself and recover,” narrated Muranganwa.
Even his father, Mr Edward Muranganwa is grateful after walking his son through the recovery process.
He said, “When we came here, my son was using a wheelchair, I was the one escorting him for his physiotherapy then after physio, he started using a walking stick and now as you can see, he can walk without support and is now ready to go home. Honestly speaking, these people are good at what they do. We have seen quite a number of people getting help here.”
While rehabilitation for some patients might take a few months others require years to fully function, thus St Giles needs more to function at full capacity.
St Giles Rehabilitation Centre chief executive officer, Mr Simon Gonde said, “We want to give them hope, we want to put them back into society at the highest functional level. In life you can never be certain, life is unpredictable, you can be involved in an accident, and you get injured. Here at St Giles, we need the help of the corporate world, we need funding for the infrastructure in most cases we are largely donor-depended so we are appealing to donors.”
For the past 60 years, St Giles has been offering physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, bladder, and bowel training as well as psychology and social work services, among other rehabilitative services.
