Kent Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre Limited
The function of the Kent MS Therapy Centre is to improve the quality of life for those with Multiple Sclerosis within the Centre’s catchment area, who choose to adopt a positive approach to their predicament. To be afflicted with MS is a very demoralising experience but, at the Centre sufferers are urged to make every effort to tackle the difficulties head-on, and to participate in as many self-help activities as possible to make life more pleasant and bearable. To this end the Centre provides expertise in physiotherapy, dietary advice, individual counselling, homeopathy, oxygen therapy and the opportunity for mutual companionship and support. Opened in 1985 the Kent MS Therapy Centre provided nearly 2,500 individual sessions in the last year. It offers a warm and caring environment for victims of all ages and their relatives and friends, and those attending travel from many areas of Kent making round journeys of more than 50 miles in some cases. It is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions, and participants themselves making a small payment per session. The facilities are expensive and require constant maintenance and refurbishment. Fund-raising thus concentrates on keeping the Centre open and available for the increasing population of sufferers. Specifically the Kent MS Therapy Centre is a charitable organisation, which encourages and assists MS victims to help themselves to lead as “normal” an existence as possible through the use of three basic therapies: a) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy b) A Personalised Neuro-Physiotherapy Regime c) Dietary Assessment and Control It costs some £41,000 a year to keep the doors of the Kent MS Therapy Centre open to those local sufferers who use it. During the last year over 650 physiotherapy sessions, 20 dietary consultations and some 1,800 hyperbaric oxygen treatments were provided. The Centre receives no national or NHS funding support despite its obvious key role in the community.