Roessingh pursues patient independence

• Eight hundred people work on rehabilitating people with congenital or acquired disabilities after illnesses, accidents or surgeries on a daily basis on a nine-hectare site in Enschede. Roessingh Rehabilitation Centre helps around 4,500 new patients to cope with their disabilities and live life to the fullest.
• All kinds of rehabilitation therapy are provided there; you can find Roessingh Labour, Roessingh Pain Rehabilitation, a school (Roessingh Education Centre), a clinic especially for children and more, including the aforementioned Research and Development. “Everything we do here is to ensure that people can live their lives as independently as possible”, says director Ronald Spanjers. “The human body is a miracle. We try to support its self-healing ability as best we can.”

This is done in every possible way at Roessingh. Staff teach patients how to use prosthetics and train them so they can function as independently as possible. Around 350 patients stay at the clinic every year. They stay here for between a few weeks and nine months, depending on the severity of the disability; other patients receive help on an outpatient basis. "A lot is possible", says Ronald, "from prosthetics to (specially adapted) wheelchairs that can be steered with the chin if necessary, to speech computers that can be operated with the eyes so that the patients can communicate again. Our employees ensure that the patients can handle these aids. They learn to walk again, talk again, drive again or achieve any goal they have set for themselves in consultation with the therapists."

The newest techniques are used for this. During a guided tour at Roessingh, Ronald opens one door after the other. “Something else is happening behind every door”, he says. "We give rehabilitation training in the swimming pool, we have an arm-hand robot that helps people who have had strokes, and we also have a robot that supports people when necessary when they are learning how to walk (again). This allows people to start rehabilitation much quicker, which is ideal in most cases. Roessingh has all the medical aids, technology and know-how available right here. Some patients stay here to rehabilitate as well and as quickly as possible, depending on their medical condition. If possible, they go home on the weekends. The ultimate goal is, after all, for them to resume their lives at home."

People also play sports on the grounds of the rehabilitation centre. Patients can play wheelchair football, hockey or swim, but people without disabilities also use the facilities. “There are not enough gym halls in Enschede”, says Ronald. “So we make ours available. Children without disabilities can have lessons in our swimming pool. My own children are among them; I think it is important that they get used to seeing people with disabilities who might look 'different'. The school also uses our swimming pool. I have worked in healthcare all my life, so I do not immediately see if people have disabilities anymore. What I do see, and what makes me happy every day, is seeing people make progress. They come in in a bed or a wheelchair and often walk out the door again. It is amazing to see what people can achieve. They have to work hard and set goals, but it is worth it. I always say that we get the most out of what is already in our patients. And that is the best thing you can do."