Preparing students for adulthood extends beyond the classroom
A holistic approach to student needs is helping young people in Telford progress into adulthood with dignity and independence.
The approach is demonstrated at Telford College of Arts & Technology with the opening of a new care suite. Strategically located to enable easy access for students on a number of different courses, the suite means the 20+ teenagers in wheelchairs and with other mobility problems can go to the loo with optimum independence and dignity, without relying on care support.
Supplied and installed by Clos-o-Mat, the country’s major provider of disabled toilet solutions for in and out of home, the new suite is bigger than a conventional wheelchair-accessible toilet, and includes more equipment – a height adjustable changing bench, height adjustable washbasin, hoist and Clos-o-Mat Palma Vita wash/dry toilet with touch sensitive switch. It complements three existing care suites and conventional wheelchair accessible toilets elsewhere around the campus.
The height adjustability enables users to set the equipment to their convenience. The Clos-o-Mat toilet, with its integrated douching and drying facility, means the need for a carer to wipe the user clean after using the toilet is removed. It, and the changing bench, ensure optimum cleanliness and hygiene is achieved.
“Telford is going through a period of expansion, and we have an increasing number of learners with physical disabilities. Those that come from our feeder schools had access to these types of facilities, and spoke highly of them,” explained Learning Support Manager Fionnuala Williams. “We are constantly looking at ways to promote independence for all our learners, and the Clos-o-Mat toilet in particular has facilitated this. It enables our students to be as independent as possible with regards to personal care. It has had a very positive response; that the suite enables the individual to be as independent as possible is crucial in maintaining the dignity of the young person at, what is often a difficult phase of their lives.”
Adds Kelvin Grimes, Clos-o-Mat hygiene room specialist: “Latest research shows the number of disabled pupils and students is increasing: in England alone, over 150,000 had special educational needs, of whom only 1.7% attend special schools. Telford College of Arts & Technology is just the latest to appreciate the need to cater for this growing sector.”
Under Department for Education guidelines (BB102, BB103), educational establishments must include a care suite or hygiene room, to meet the requirements of special needs students in mainstream schooling. Clos-o-Mat is now the biggest supplier, and authority, in the provision of such facilities. It is unique in having, in-house, design advice, supply, install, commissioning and after-sales maintenance & service across the range of equipment. Further, a raft of technical support, including CAD drawings for individual kit and a whole hygiene room, and white papers, is all available to access via the company’s website: www.clos-o-mat.com
Ends
Clos-o-Mat
Tel: 0161 969 1199
Web: http://www.clos-o-mat.com
Email: info@clos-o-mat.com
Original of this article here