They have your back

Nishant, from Sullia, Dakshina Kannada, has started dreaming again.

After an accident that left him with a spinal cord injury, “I was confined to bed for two years. It was painful to see my parents skip programmes and festivals in order to take care of me,” he says.

He then enrolled himself to Seva Dhama, and he now nurses an ambition to become a wheelchair motivator. His greatest strength? Getting back his independence.

Tree climbers, farmers, construction workers among others in the hinterland who survive the fall with a spinal cord injury, eventually suffer a painful death.

And the rehabilitation centre Seva Dhama in Southadka in Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada has emerged as a hope for them and their families.

Seva Dhama, which celebrated its first anniversary recently, has already been hailed as a model centre among the four spinal cord injury rehabilitation centres operating across the state.

It’s the brainchild of Vinayak Rao from Kanyadi, who himself is a wheelchair user.

In 1996, Vinayak, 26, was electrocuted and paralysed waist-down due to the injury to his spinal cord. Within a few years of the accident, he got rid of his self-pity and launched Seva Bharathi in 2004 with an objective to transform his village into a model village, and help those in distress.

In 2017, he enrolled for a 21-day course conducted by the rehabilitation unit of Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore for persons with spinal cord injury.

Impressed with the centre’s initiatives to enhance the quality of life, he decided to mainstream bedridden people by launching a similar centre in Dakshina Kannada.

It became a reality when The Association of People Disability India (APD) partnered with Seva Dhama.

Southadka Shri Mahaganapathi Temple committee magnanimously waived off their rent while permitting Seva Dhama to use the ground floor of the temple’s guest house as a rehabilitation centre for the next three years.

Dr Senthil N S Kumar, serving as director (technical) in APD, says many persons with spinal cord injuries die without being rehabilitated. Without insurance, the hospital can’t offer help beyond a certain point.

The needs

“Without employment and lacking in new skills, they get confined to bed. The family is further destroyed when the person develops painful bed sores, and urinary and chest infections,” informs Dr Senthil, and adds rehabilitation increases the survival chances of a person with a spinal cord injury. Dr Senthil says the centre is built on the dreams of good-hearted people.

Due to geographically scattered locations in this region, house-to-house therapy is difficult. Thus, the centre is a boon for persons with spinal cord injury in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Kasargod and Hassan. “I had never seen such a ‘luxury’ centre before,” Chandigarh Spinal Rehab’s life-skill trainer Kumaresan says.

The centre had identified 178 persons with spinal cord injury, and 42 among them have been rehabilitated. The centre also has facilitated the employment of four persons with spinal cord injury.

Harish Malpe (24) says he suffered an injury from a fall off the roof. He not only became active after joining the centre, but also got back his job at the Malpe Billava Sangha.

“Had he not joined Seva Dhama, he would have still been at home,” informs the mother, her eyes turning bleary.

Vinayak, who turned 49 this July, says an eight-member team runs the centre with 10 beds.

During treatment, persons with spinal cord injury are required to pay Rs 4,500, as food expenses (Rs 6,000 for the caretaker). The centre’s annual expenditure exceeds over Rs 30 lakh.

“APD has helped us by paying Rs 16 lakh this year,” Vinayak says. His immediate goals are creating livelihood opportunities for persons with spinal cord injury rehabilitated at the centre. Vinayak is keen on creating awareness among doctors about the centre for spinal cord injury rehabilitation.

“From zero, we have taken the first step,” says Vinayak, flashing a triumphant smile.