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Fact SheetThe Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation
The Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS is the largest private non-profit Organisation in the field of rehabilitation in Italy. It was founded just after the second world war by don Carlo Gnocchi in order to provide care, rehabilitation and social integration to children injured by war. Since that time, the Foundation has rapidly grown and now runs 17 medical and social rehabilitation centres throughout Italy, providing medical, social and vocational rehabilitation to individuals of all ages with a variety of physical, sensory and mental disabilities. It employs some 2700 persons including medical, paramedical, technical and administrative personnel. Funding is based mainly on the medical and vocational rehabilitation services, provided according to the current National Health Service and Regional policies. The "S.Maria Nascente" CentreThe "S.Maria Nascente" Centre based in Milano (some 700 employees) has been acknowledged the role of Scientific Clinical Institute (IRCCS) in 1991 by the Ministry of Health. The Institute is therefore qualified to carry out clinical research and to apply for specific research funding. Clinical research activities are mainly focused on diagnosis, care, therapy and management of patients of all ages suffering from central and peripheral nervous injuries, neuromuscular disorders, demyelinating illnesses, chronic degenerative disorders of the central nervous system, and congenital malformations. Technological research is focused on applied bioengineering, rehabilitation technology, medical informatics. The Centre includes several inpatients units for adults and elderly individuals (orthopaedics, neurological rehabilitation, multiple sclerosis, cardiology, physical rehabilitation, sports medicine), out-patients units (a day-hospital, child neuropsychiatry, cardiology), workshops and laboratories (biology, neurophysiology, gait analysis etc...), a socio-educational department for young psychically disabled, a vocational department providing training courses to physically disabled individuals in the field of informatics, a bioengineering department (run in cooperation with the Milano Technical University) developing biomedical technologies applied to neuromotor, cardiovascular and respiratory systems diseases, and an assistive technology department (SIVA). SIVA Team and ActivitiesThe SIVA team is composed of 15 persons, including engineers, computer scientists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, documentalists and psychologists. Its main focus are technologies for independent living, social integration and quality of life of disabled persons. Its activities include:
Click the buttons below for more information on how to contact SIVA. The Assistive Technology Advice ServiceThe AT information and advice service offers individual consultation on assistive technology to any persons requesting it. These are mainly persons with disabilities; however, clients include also families with disabled members, rehabilitation & health care professionals, teachers, architects, health authorities and sometimes even manufacturers. The service is open every morning upon appointment. Simpler questions are sometimes dealt with also by:
You may wish to visit the AT Advice Service
page for more details. The Information SystemThe information system is composed of:
Research ProgrammesA variety of research programmes are ongoing at SIVA, concerning technological, clinical, educational and socio-economic issues. SIVA took part in several EC projects such as: MORE, HANDYNET, HEART, CERTAIN, TWIN, EATS, DAILY, ARTNET and EUSTAT.
Within EUSTAT, SIVA was the project leader; in co-operation with other 5 partner Organisations (3 of them being composed of and led by people with disabilities) in five EU Countries it addressed the educational needs of people with disabilities, leading to the production of educational material for end-users of assistive technology as well as for peer or professional counsellors. You may wish to visit the Research
Programmes page for more details. Educational ProgrammesEducational activities include postgraduate courses and a continuous education programme, mainly addressed at rehabilitation professionals.
The course titled "Tecnologie Didattiche per la disabilità" (which stands for "Educational Technologies for Disability") lasts 220 hours; it provides educators with competencies related to the use of information technology as a support to inclusive education for students with learning disabilities or cognitive impairment. The Continuous Education Workshops take place monthly, each lasting one full day. Each of them is composed of a scientific session, that addresses a specific "hot-issue" related to assistive technology, and of a demonstration session, where technical aids available on the market are presented and discussed with the manufacturers. |
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SIVA,
which stands for Assistive Technology Research and Information Service
(Servizio
Informazioni Valutazione Ausili), was established in 1981 as a section of
the Research Department of the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation in Milano.
The service is equipped
with a permanent exhibition of technical aids, where most types of assistive
technologies can be directly tried out; it includes several environments
(mobility, communication, kitchen, bathroom, etc...) which represent the most common
situations that a person with disability may encounter in daily life at home,
outdoors, in the worksite and in the school.
The course titled
"Tecnologie per l’Autonomia" (which stands for "Assistive
Technologies") lasts 200 hours; it provides a basic "horizontal"
education encompassing the whole domain of assistive technology.