Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Carer service makes a trip to Bali possible, The Jakarta Post, Oct. 8, 2009 By Trisha Sertori


Tours for everyone: Ketut Sama and Made Nano offer a special tourism service — they offer care for people with disabilities and the frail elderly, so all can enjoy the beauty of Bali. JP/J.B. Djwan
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Living with a disability is tough for both the patient and their family.
Planning a holiday, for example, demands searching for wheelchair-accessible hotels and restaurants, suitable transport, medical assistance at hand and someone to give the family some respite from the 24-hour-a-day job of caring.
The planning itself can be so exhausting, families often give up and stay home, particularly when the destination is in Asia, a part of the world that is yet to seriously consider the needs of those with disabilities.
Bali’s infrastructure has never taken account of the needs of the frail elderly or people with disabilities, according to I Ketut Sama and Made Nano, who discovered firsthand just how difficult a walk through Bali’s streets can be when pushing a wheelchair or entering a restaurant.
“Bali is difficult for disabled people,” said Nano, who with Sama cared for wheelchair-bound Vern Cork in Bali for many years during his recovery from a misdiagnosed disease.
“The government and business need to recognize the needs of people with disabilities and rethink their building designs to offer greater access. Many tourist destinations have a lot of stairs and even the footpaths are not designed for wheelchairs or people who have difficulty walking, such as the elderly.”
Cork was originally diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and was wheelchair bound, with ever-increasing disabilities, until he was re-diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2001.
Cork, who had been visiting and volunteering in Bali since the 1970s, saw Bali as the place to regain his mobility and self-confidence, lost due to the misdiagnosis of his illness.
He measures Nano and Ketut’s disability carer service as valuable, after helping them establish the idea, which has since grown by word of mouth.
“I feel this is absolutely vital,” said Vern via email from Australia. “I realized I could have an enjoyable and productive life thanks to the assistance I got from Ketut and others. In fact very productive: I have been translating and publishing books of Balinese stories and poetry.”
This productivity and enjoyment of life have been achieved despite Cork’s need for help when eating, dressing, toileting and for getting around in his wheelchair.
So valuable was the assistance of Sama that Vern believes it helped in his recuperation.
“Certainly psychologically as well as physically, thanks to the regular assisted exercise and massage.
Without this service I would have been depressed by my limitations and unable to recover when I was prescribed the medicine for Parkinson’s that enabled me to experience a miracle — to walk and be self-sufficient,” writes Cork, who went on to travel much of the world in a wheelchair with the assistance of his Balinese carer.
Cork, through his involvement with Balinese carers, also helped found the Balinese cooperative Senang Hati, established by Balinese with disabilities for Balinese.
“It was through working with Vern [Cork] that we saw the need for a 24 hour-a-day holiday service for disabled people. Since Vern, we have helped several other people enjoy their time in Bali or have trained people to care for them,” says Sama of the exercise, massage and disabled care they offer visitors to Bali, despite Sama and Nano having no medical or nursing training.
“Due to the type of work, and the fact it is one-on-one, we have only cared for a few people at this stage,” says Nano.
“We were with Vern for five years and learned an enormous amount. After Vern we cared for an American, Ben, who had lost his motor skills following an insect bite that affected the nerves to his brain pathways.
“Ben was like a robot until he was touched — like he was asleep. We cared for Ben during the four months he was on holiday in Bali. We gave him massage, light exercise and swimming daily.”
Other patients include Alzheimer’s sufferers, who Nano and Sama say can be the most difficult patients because of the frustration they feel due to their degenerative illness.
“Every person we deal with has different needs,” Nano says. “At present we are working with an Alzheimer’s patient. Alzheimer’s needs a lot of patience from the carer, because sufferers forget what happened 10 minutes ago and remember their childhood and youth only. We need to use tricks to help them shower and due to their age, we need to be comfortable during bouts of incontinence.”
The two carers, whose mission statement is “Disability is no handicap for holidays in Ubud, Bali”, stress that working as a carer for holidayers with disabilities is not something you do just for the money.
“Helping people who may have lost bladder or bowel control, who need to be fed, washed, get angry or frustrated — this is not a job for everyone, but a job that needs to come from the heart,” says Nano.“We are happy doing this work and helping people have a holiday in Bali while giving their families some respite.
He points out that disability and financial restraints should be no barrier to enjoying the beauty and rich culture of one of the world’s favorite holiday destinations.
“This is really about caring for other people and sharing Bali with them,” says Sama. “The costs really depend on the level of disability, because very severe disabilities need more people to ensure 24-hour care.
“It also depends on how financially able people are — for those who can afford it, there are our standard rates, but for those who cannot we are very flexible so they too can enjoy time in Bali.”
The holiday service, which works with people with physical and mental disabilities and the frail elderly, has available 24-hour medical assistance, 24-hour full care if required, and a wheelchair access directory of hotels, restaurants and places of interest.


Sama or Nano can be contacted by email on sama_ketut@yahoo.com or madenano81@yahoo.com.











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