The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Minister inaugurates Chennai Care Foundation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 14, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Minister inaugurates Chennai Care Foundation

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI : In a country where the Census recognised five forms of disability - sight, speech, hearing, movement and mental — it is important that organisations reach out to rural areas. It is here that people with disability clustered and lacked care centres, said Social Welfare Minister B. Poongothai.

She inaugurated on Friday the Chennai Care Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that aims to enrich the quality of life of children, women, differently-abled and the elderly by providing a support system, and act as an anchor for people with special needs.

She also released Disha, a directory of organisations in Chennai that support the needs of special children.

Attitudinal change

She said that there was a need for attitudinal change to overcome barriers.

The Minister urged the Foundation to take to the districts the services of optometrist, audiologist and physiotherapist.

The Foundation has three centres: the child development centre will assess the disability, counsel and refer the child for further therapy; the entre for well-being of elderly will focus on enrichment programmes for the elderly; the centre for training, research and development will train social workers in child and geriatric care, document development and welfare issues and organise research and development project besides coordinating publications.

J. Rejinald, president of Chennai Masonic Charitable Trust and Air Vice Marshal V. Krishnaswamy, director of Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children also spoke.

The Foundation can be reached by email at: chennai_care@yahoo.co.in or by phone at: 044-24364437.

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