"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Who We Are
NepalAbility is a University of Toronto affiliated group of volunteers dedicated to reducing disability in Nepal. Our group consists of clinicians from all areas of clinical care and across the continuum of care. Our members are academics, consultants, dieticians, neuropsychologists, nurses, physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, researchers, speech language pathologists, students, volunteers. We have a growing number of people from Nepal in our group whose knowledge and dedication we value very much.
MISSIONTo advance inter-professional rehabilitation in Nepal through local and distance education, mentorship and clinical skill exchange in collaboration with our Nepali partners
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VISIONTo promote quality of life for patients and families living with disability by supporting sustainable rehabilitation
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VALUESTo help our Nepali partners in practical and respectful ways
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Greetings from the Chair, Dr. Nora Cullen
Thank you for visiting the NepalAbility website!
NepalAbility began in Toronto around 2005 after a visit and talk from a surgeon and a physiotherapist working in Nepal. They spoke of the fact that there was almost no rehabilitation service available to the people of Nepal.
Since its inception and the first team visit to Nepal in 2006, NepalAbility has sent 22 teams of rehabilitation related health professionals, of at least 65 members from across Canada, all devoted to improving rehabilitation access and quality in Nepal. The teams visit at approximately six-month intervals, and focus on creating educational services for medical, nursing, and allied health staff. NepalAbility is directly affiliated with two hospitals in central Nepal: A general hospital in Tansen, and a former leprosy hospital in Pokhara that is currently undergoing transformation to a rehabilitation-based hospital. We also provide salary support for a Nepali physical therapist, physio assistant, and spinal cord injury peer support worker in Tansen. It is important to highlight that all of the money donated to NepalAbility goes directly to support Nepali staff or to projects in Nepal. All travel and accommodation costs for visiting team members are paid for by the individual team members themselves, allowing essentially 100% of donated dollars to go to front-line initiatives.
Like many organizations providing assistance around the world, NepalAbility runs on funds provided by generous donors. We are delighted to announce that as of November 2020, we have become a formal charitable organization and now have the ability to issue tax receipts to donors. This is a tremendous advantage for any organization, and we hope that our new charitable organization status will make it easier for existing and new individual and corporate donors to consider financial contributions to NepalAbility.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of rehabilitation in restoring function and quality of life after injury or illness, and this is even more important in a part of the world where there is no social safety net which individuals and families may depend on to return to pre-injury functions. As one Canadian physiatrist has said, “Rehabilitation is like clean water: Essential to life, but largely unappreciated until it isn’t available”.
Please continue to help us make rehabilitation available to the people of Nepal!
With warm regards,
Dr. Nora Cullen
Chair, NepalAbility
Thank you for visiting the NepalAbility website!
NepalAbility began in Toronto around 2005 after a visit and talk from a surgeon and a physiotherapist working in Nepal. They spoke of the fact that there was almost no rehabilitation service available to the people of Nepal.
Since its inception and the first team visit to Nepal in 2006, NepalAbility has sent 22 teams of rehabilitation related health professionals, of at least 65 members from across Canada, all devoted to improving rehabilitation access and quality in Nepal. The teams visit at approximately six-month intervals, and focus on creating educational services for medical, nursing, and allied health staff. NepalAbility is directly affiliated with two hospitals in central Nepal: A general hospital in Tansen, and a former leprosy hospital in Pokhara that is currently undergoing transformation to a rehabilitation-based hospital. We also provide salary support for a Nepali physical therapist, physio assistant, and spinal cord injury peer support worker in Tansen. It is important to highlight that all of the money donated to NepalAbility goes directly to support Nepali staff or to projects in Nepal. All travel and accommodation costs for visiting team members are paid for by the individual team members themselves, allowing essentially 100% of donated dollars to go to front-line initiatives.
Like many organizations providing assistance around the world, NepalAbility runs on funds provided by generous donors. We are delighted to announce that as of November 2020, we have become a formal charitable organization and now have the ability to issue tax receipts to donors. This is a tremendous advantage for any organization, and we hope that our new charitable organization status will make it easier for existing and new individual and corporate donors to consider financial contributions to NepalAbility.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of rehabilitation in restoring function and quality of life after injury or illness, and this is even more important in a part of the world where there is no social safety net which individuals and families may depend on to return to pre-injury functions. As one Canadian physiatrist has said, “Rehabilitation is like clean water: Essential to life, but largely unappreciated until it isn’t available”.
Please continue to help us make rehabilitation available to the people of Nepal!
With warm regards,
Dr. Nora Cullen
Chair, NepalAbility