Rehabilitation in a rural community in Ukraine--a pilot project

The World Health Organization has promoted the concept of community-based rehabilitation as a means of fulfilling the needs of disabled persons in their home environment, and at the same time decreasing the costs of tertiary rehabilitative care. This paper reports on the 10-year experience of a village rehabilitation hospital in rural Ukraine. The hospital was converted to a rehabilitation facility by provision of rehabilitation space, training of local medical and allied health personnel in the principles of rehabilitation, provision of modalities, exercise, hydrotherapy, apiotherapy, and obtaining the necessary physical medical equipment. The cost of this conversion was quite modest and was more than compensated for by the efficient utilization of the facility in the region together with the significant saving in tertiary care costs, including travelling time for patients.