According to the 2017 research by the Public Health Institute, nine percent of the Curaçao community has a mobility impairment. The rehabilitation of this group of people is financed by the health insurance. But after the rehabilitation process is finished they still need help to be able to, as much as possible, create and maintain an independent lifestyle.

Victor Monk is sector director at the Ministry of Social Development, Labor and Wellbeing. ‘We feel that people with
a disability need to be able to take control of their situation. To do that, they need to obtain adequate support and aid.
We believed in Fundashon Alton Paas from the very start. The organization conducts a professional and sustainable operation. They continue where rehabilitation ends. And that is extremely important, because having a mobility impairment is a chronic
condition that you will have to deal with your entire life.

‘Carrying on after rehabilitation‘
You can’t plan aftercare following rehabilitation, not financially nor in terms of results. The improvements experienced by those following programs at the AP Center, vary per person. The health insurance covers rehabilitation, but then you still have a long and difficult journey ahead of you. The treatment for this group of patients is never completely finalized.’

On the road to continuity
‘Fundashon Alton Paas is the only institute in the entire Caribbean sector that actively works with training programs aimed at people with a neurological condition or a spinal cord injury. And with proven success. That is why we support the people that make use of the institute’s services in the form of a yearly subsidy. Granting of this subsidy is a temporary solution to fill the gap while working on continuity. We want to give Fundashon Alton Paas an impulse to ultimately reach the point where the foundation obtains funds directly from the AVBZ. Which is a logical step if you look at it from the principle that everyone with a disability has the right to obtain care.

‘Uninsurable risks‘
The projects and services that Fundashon Alton Paas offers to this group of people is extremely valuable. The government should support professional initiatives such as these. Ultimately, we are talking about lifelong uninsurable risks that will be carried by the community