Just about 60 years ago, a young Mary Perez de Marranzini, whose son Celso suffered from polio in his youth, realized that there was no place in the Dominican Republic where persons with physical disabilities could receive assistance. She was determined to change all of that, and, as a result, the was the Dominican Rehabilitation Association was founded in Santo Domingo.
The organization, now known simply as Rehabilitacion, has provided for more than 22 million services since its inception, and treated an estimated more than 10% of the Dominican population that has suffered some type of injury or illness that has resulted in a disability or an impairment of physical movement. Just last year the agency provided over 1.5 million services, many of which were free.
Celso Marranzini Perez, the current president of the Board of Directors, noted that there are now 35 branches of Rehabilitación throughout the country and these assist as many as 7,000 patients a day. A new center will soon be opening in Boca Chica. Working together with hospitals in Europe and the United States, patients of Rehabilitación have received over 560 orthopedic surgical procedures, including 34 of the spinal column in 2023 alone. This is a special institution.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
6 May 2024