Consistent Cheshire Disability Services funding seen as key

CHESHIRE Disability Services in Port Moresby should have been a hospital for people with special needs if government support was consistent over the years, an official says.
“We are not bringing in any more residents basically because we don’t have the capacity to look after them here,” Cheshire programme support and operations officer Tom Sarwon said.
“We don’t have the money.”
Sarwon said there were 16 residents and the figure hadn’t changed over the years due to the limited facility rehabilitation.
He said regular visits had been carried out to communities.
He said government support was there but it wasn’t enough to cover the centre’s needs.
“Our biggest challenge now is that we are looking for support to rehabilitate the infrastructure because the buildings are run down, they have been here longer than most of us,” he said.
“We have sent out invitations to organisations, but have not got response yet.
“But we will keep following up.”
Sarwon said the other underlying challenges were medication and transportation for the residents.
“Despite the challenges, there has been quite a good number of donations made by the corporate sector, church groups and individuals for which we are grateful.”