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accessibility of the home, easy movement of the wheelchair inside the house and to
assessthe available rehabilitation servicesin the community;
Ji'IGURE5.14 HOMETRIALLEAVEBEFOREDISCHARGE
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Figure 5.14 shows that (16) 64% amputees were not given home trial leave before
discharge as compared to (9) 36% amputees who were given. Amongst the (9) 36%
amputees, one requested a leave ofabsence before discharge because he had no hope of
being able to stay at home because of poor infrastructure. This indicates that the
amputees are aware thatthey need to go home for trial leave or'visitsto see whether they
will cope or not. The amputees. who were not granted leave of absence experienced
problems that they had to deal with on their own until the next follow-up date. These
amputees experiencedrejection by family, usually becausethe fumilies were notprepared
beforehand to receive the patient, The family members did not know how to care for
these amputees and thought that they should not yet have been discharged, These are
amputees whose home assewnent and visit were not done by the rehabilitation team;
therefore family members did nothaveinsight on their care. This is supportedby Sakuma
(1997:97), who states thatthe disabled patients who progress favorably in psychological
accoinmodation to disability and restoration offunction, still face a problem with home
and commrmity adjustmentifnot well preparedby the rehabiIitation team for discharge
and integration into the community. He adds that they at times get intrusive assistance,
which theydo notneed.
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