(Rivista Internazionale - December 1996: Charitable Activities of the French Association - 3/7)

Rochefort sur Mer. Some facilities of the Specialised home Saint Jean de Jérusalem and the dining room.

"Jeanne d'Arc" Nursing Home in Vigneux sur Seine (Essonne)
In April 1992, the Order of Malta's Works opened a new institution in the restored and extended premises of the old "Jeanne d'Arc" clinic. It is a nursing home which can house 38 disabled adults aged between 18 and 30. These people are unable to participate in productive activities, and although they can look after themselves without the systematic help of a third party they still need to be accompanied.
The special feature of this type of home is that it combines the advantages of family life with those of the specialised institution, with alternating weeks inside and outside. This system relieves parents of much of their load and at the same time prepares the young adults for a future outside the family environment without creating a sudden break.

Roquetaillade Functional Rehabilitation Centre (F.R. C.)
Taken over in 1989 and modernised, it treats 80 children and adolescents as in- and out-patients, and in its day hospital with physical and mental disabilities and progressive muscular diseases. Its main objectives are rehabilitation and schooling completed by sports and recreational activities.
Functional rehabilitation is entrusted to a team of doctors specialised in physical medicine, kinesitherapy, ergotherapy, psychomotor therapy, psychology and speech training, with the close collaboration of nurses. Alongside this rehabilitation, residents are given elementary, primary, secondary and pre-vocational training, with the possibility of inserting some of them in an institution in Auch. The courses are given by teachers approved by the Ministry of Education.
In March 1944, a new service specialising in traumatology (accidents or bone surgery) and infantile rheumatism was opened. The rheumatology-orthopaedics-rehabilitation (R.O.R.) service includes ten rooms with one or two beds (the second bed is for parents who want to stay or visit their children).
In 1989, a Specialised Home for Disabled was set up in one of the Centre's buildings for 15 poly-disabled adults from the Department who need constant care and assistance. Like the "Saint Jean de Jérusalem" C.A.S. in Rochefort sur Mer, the residents can make use of rehabilitation services plus expressive activities and various recreations.

"Saint Jean De Malte" House in Paris
Conceived and realised by the Order of Malta's French Hospitaller Works, based on centuries-old traditions and the desire to help the disadvantaged, this Specialised Home for the Disabled was opened in December 1996 and enables:
• the less seriously disabled of its 84 residents to recover partial autonomy;
• the more seriously disabled to preserve their personal dignity;
• all to live in conditions permitting them a certain personal development, thanks to:
• housing in miniflats (10 places);
• housing in rooms with bath (66 places) or
• day hospital (18 places).
In the spirit of the Order of Malta, this home in Paris offers security, encouragement, functional rehabilitation, joy in living, dynamism and a new vocational project.

Versailles. The national centre for medicines collection and distribution the rooms for the selection and storage.

Specifications
• Smart building. Thanks to an electronic circuit and remote control, residents can control the environment and circulate in the 8500 square metres of the house.
• Flats housing from 10 to 12 people served by a permanent team.
• Ten mini-flats, housing for short periods the victims of road accidents, accompanied by spouses or close relatives, to reduce hospitalisation and separation, help couples cope with a new life, play down the disability and re-assess living together personalised treatments by a supplementary team of specialists.
• Quality treatment, but also quality of daily life and support.

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