Robert Kenny (51) believes he is one of the “lucky people” with a spinal cord injury.
Mr Kenny, who works part-time with Spinal Injuries Ireland (SCI), had a life-changing experience back in 1984 when he was injured in a road traffic incident and is now paralysed from the chest down.
He is one of more than 1,800 people in Ireland calling on the Government to invest in rehabilitation in the community – avoiding the ordeal and cost of long stays in hospitals or nursing homes.
“I am quadriplegic, and have a personal assistant funded by the Health Service Executive through the Irish Wheelchair Association,” Mr Kenny, who lives in Clontarf, Dublin, explains.
“I drive a car, I have part-time work, and I can spend time with my wife and young daughter,” he says.
“However, there are many people like me with spinal cord injuries who are in nursing homes, because there is insufficient funding for carers,” he says. He spent nine years in hospital before a care package could be devised for him.
“Yet, if everyone was able to live independently it would save the Government money in the long term,” he says.
Mr Kenny admits that he does not have great faith in the new administration, as he believes his namesake, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, presided over cuts during the lifetime of the previous government.
Improved services
However, Spinal Injuries Ireland chief executive officer Fiona Bolger is hoping that improved services for people with such injuries will become a priority for the new Cabinet.
She enlisted Mayor of Galway Frank Fahy to become the first politician to sign an SCI pledge on supporting better lives for those affected, along with their families.
The event in Galway on Wednesday was the first in a nationwide awareness programme, entitled “This is my Life”, which provides information on the 10 key issues facing people with spinal injuries.
The non-governmental organisation, which has 39 per cent of its budget funded by the State, employs a team of six community officers who work with people affected by spinal injury.
“Spinal injury is acknowledged by the World Health Organisation as one of the most devastating injuries, and one of the major factors is the continuing pain that people have to endure,” Ms Bolger explained.
Investment has been pledged to develop the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, she said, but there was still no action on a neuro-rehabilitation strategy published five years ago, she said.
“Rehabilitation is acknowledged as the poor relation of the health service, and we want the new Government to establish a steering group which will implement the strategy,”she said.
