Web Posted on: August 24, 1998
EFESTO: A PUBLIC/PRIVATE INTEDISCIPLINARY PROJECT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A.T. RELATED REHABILITATION SERVICES
Massimo I . Campo, Psychologist Consultant
"Once upon a time there was Efesto, the only outcast god among the Olympus heathen gods, the one who could work clay, metals, gold as a craftsman, a magician, a forger..."
Efesto is the name of a Project for an integrated, multi and inter disciplinary service in the field of Assistive Technologies.
Efesto is meant to provide disabled persons (in particular older and multiple-handicapped people) with individual, specialized and differentiated, technological answers to their needs.
The Project tries to put together, to form a team from different pieces of knowledge and experiences: research, production, assessment and delivery of technological devices for end-users.
The team is represented by an integrated composition of public and private expertise and know-how both from a professional and economic point of view, coordinated with a conventioned agreement:
- The public presence is provided by the Public Health Local Units (with their experience in the Social and Clinical problems of the population and their competence acquired in the different professional interventions).
- The private presence is represented by a private firm, leader in the experimentation, commercialization and distribution of Assistive Technologies (with its possibility/necessity to be continuously up-dated to face the rapid obsolescence and upgrading of the devices).
- A Research and Evaluation Unit, composed by different University Departments. They can guarantee objective investigations and controls in the experimentation and application of the technologies and of the related methodologies with their scientific competence in the specific involved fields, as bioengineering, electronics, informatics, psychology, behavioural science...).
Infact, traditionally, public Institutions, especially in Southern Europe, generally have had poor resources, in particular as far as their technological equipment is concerned.
At the same time they have acquired a lot of experience with the requests and the needs of their patients always in large numbers, and consequently they developed good competences from a clinical, psychological and social point of view.
On the contrary private agencies have usually more economical availability. Moreover, being subjected to the market competition, they've had to keep up with the times which the market imposed and to be up-to-date with the new products, even if they have often a minor knowledge of the clinical point of view and of the user's real needs.
The junction point should have been represented by Research Units and Universities, but very often they are not sufficiently acquainted in the field of elderly and disabled people and too theoretical in their speculations.
Therefore a good policy seems to be to join the different competences and to create integrated, interdisciplinary interacting Centers for research, experimentation, evaluation, assessment and delivery of the devices.
Otherwise knowledge and skills regarding the opportunities offered by assistive technologies and the consequent diffusion and take-up of these products and their delivery services will continue to be quite limited, fragmentary and separated.
It seems to be necessary to establish a common field of interest among scientific research, private agencies and public health services, in the investigation, production, marketing and delivery of assistive technologies.
Moreover, the experimentation of the products is needed to develop specifications and standards, but it has to be controlled and assessed in an appropriate legislative and regulatory framework.
That can be assured only in the presence of the three instances of public, private and scientific levels.
Public diffusion of technologies, pricing policy, market evolution, social assistance provisions, all of them depend on the presence and functioning of interdisciplinary integrated services, the consequent development of appropriate professional structures, their cooperation and exchange networks.
Efesto tries to follow the policy patterns mentioned above.
Principal aim of the Project is to take care of the users to maximize autonomy, social integration and functional job potentials with the following procedures:
- Evaluation (functional diagnosis) conducted by the clinical (medical and psychological) staff. In this phase a specialistic counseling is offered in a brief period to evaluate the acquired autonomy and/or the eventual improvements through the use of appropriate and modern assistive technologies.
- Individuation, determination and provision of the assistive technologies (technological involvement) conducted by the technical competences and professionals of the private firm in coordination with the clinical staff. In this phase, together with the user, the needed technological devices are chosen as well as the necessary training to their use and the technical services and assistance is assured.
- Educational and Rehabilitation Project (functional prognosis) programmed by professionals in the different involved fields.
In this phase a rehabilitation program is elaborated through adequate instruments (drafts, protocols, trainings and clinical methods) combined with the results of medical, psychological and motivational testings. - Realization (execution of the Project) conducted by the Team specialists under the supervision and in cooperation with the Academic experts.
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All these phases of the work will be accompanied by:
- Permanent follow-up of all the cases of users taken in consideration, conducted by the clinical and Academic staff.
- Permanent up-dating of technologies (through acqisition, experimentation and evaluation ) which can be assured by the private firm.
- Permanent training of the personnel, conducted by the professionals of the Team. The training is extended to all the subjects who take part in the familiar , educational and job integration of the user.
- Research (both technological and clinical ) to promote new and more appropriate devices and to improve the methodologies' efficacy, to be developed in cooperation with the University.
- A Data bank of technological devices is implemented and continuously up-dated, linked on line with telematic networks in order to have rapid access to the new information.
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Other Specific Aims of the Project are then:
- to favour and support social and job integration, in some way re-adjusting the users environment and way of life using new approaches, patterns and instruments.
- to build-up with the involved experts a multidisciplinary evaluation system and in the same time favouring the transfer of information to various subjects interested about technological opportunities existing on the market.
- to allow the Public, Social and Health Institutions to better program their economic budgets through a permanent improvement in the choice ot the appropriate technological aids.
- to promote scientific and cultural initiatives to develop the equal opportunities awareness and a new mentality which can see the disabled as an active resource for his autonomy in the integration, through prevention and overcoming of handicaps.
Benefits and advantages of an initiative like Efesto with the characteristics mentioned above are extended on different areas:
- Social: disabled integration and autonomy (main objective) is facilitated and favoured by an individualized
availability of A.T. - Economic: providing the best coordinated services with limited costs (i.e. coming from a more efficient matching of methodologies and technologies fit to the real needs of the single user with a permanent research of "standards" and "design for all" products, both from a technological and methodological approach.
A better autonomy level will also reduce the institutional residential and care costs, allowing an ever increasing number of disabled and elderly people to live autonomously.
Moreover a larger job integration in the market world will contribue to diminish the negative balance between active and retired or assisted population. - Individual: obviously the most important data are given by the possible improvement in the quality of life of disabled and elderly people, permitted by a wise and effective resort to rehabilitation methodologies and Assistive Technologies.
Efesto, the outlined initiative, is ready to start in a regional reality in Italy, but it obviously will increase its "raison d'etre" with the cooperation of other European Partners, augmenting scientific interchanges, with the dissemination of different experiences and comparing possible results.
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Paper submitted by: Tiflosystem S.P.A. and ASL 15 Camposampiero - Regione Veneto
Full postal address for contact : Tiflosystem S.P.A., via 4 Novembre 12 b 35017 Piombino Dese
Phone number: +39 49 9366933 - +39 10 8391160
Fax Number: +39 49 9366950
E-Mail: Tiflosystem@pn.itnet.it
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Short outline of presentation:
A center for an integrated, multi and interdisciplinary Service in the field of AT is presented as a Project to offer individual specialized and differentiated answers to the problems of persons with special needs.
Main components:
- Public Health Local Units
- Private Firm, leader in assistive technologies
- Research and Evaluation Unit represented by different University Departements
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Full Name title and position of all authors:
Lucia Guderzo, Technical Director - Tiflosystem
Angelo Ferro, Teacher in International Economy- University of Verona
Massimo I . Campo, Psychologist Consultant
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