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The basic legal framework for the operation of Rehabilitation Centers in Greece is implemented following the directives of the European Economic Community. The objective is the design and development of modern social care and welfare services, through organized, independent Recovery and Rehabilitation Units. However, society’s general attitude towards disability at the time was hostile, and there was a lack of planning, objectives, services, structures and infrastructure. In this context ANAPLASI, the first organized, adminsterially and scientifically, Rehabilitation Center in our country, is founded in 1994.
ANAPLASI Rehabilitation was founded at a time when the word “rehabilitation” referred was interpreted in terms of economic (“compensation”), legal (“restitution of rights to a person who was deprived of them”) and social (“marriage”, ensuring satisfactory living conditions for the affected, the disadvantaged and the landless”) contexts, while the medical concept of rehabilitation was limited to the treatment of substance abuse.
ANAPLASI opens its doors in Chalandri, Attica. It successfully lobbies for the Government Directive giving patients the right to a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program, thus separating Rehabilitation from the welfare structures of institutions for chronic diseases, for the first time in Greece, and the consignment of patients with disabilities to residential institutions. It introduces the practice of the Trans- Disciplinary Rehabilitation Team in Greece and the novel practice of combined therapeutic interventions, where therapists of different specialties simultaneously participate in one therapy session.
Global Coverage of ANAPLASI by CNN: “A unique Rehabilitation Center in Athens gives patients with Neuromuscular problems a new lease on life.”
ANAPLASI provides financial support and free rehabilitation programs to those affected by the great earthquake in Athens of 1999. For its practical support to the victims, an official letter of gratitude is received from the Prime Minister of Greece.
ANAPLASI is the first healthcare provider in Greece and the first Rehabilitation Center in Europe to be certified according to ISO 9001 for all of its services “company-wide”, by DQS ,the German body auditing and issuing the Quality Management Systems Certification.
ANAPLASI officially becomes a major sponsor of the National Sports Federation of Persons with Disabilities and the Association of Hellenic Paralympians. The Rehabilitation Team of ANAPLASI supports the Paralympians who excelled at the Athens Olympic Games. Paraskevi Kantza, Anthi Karagianni, Yannis Kostakis, Thanasis Barakas, Simos Palsanitidis, Eleni Samaritaki, and Grigoris Polychronidis are some of the athletes embraced by ANAPLASI and who are instrumental in writing the history of the Hellenic Paralympic movement.
For the first time ANAPLASI signs contracts for the provision of outpatient rehabilitation services with TEBE – OAEE healthcare insurers and a little later with the IKA healthcare insurer. Thus, patients can enjoy high-quality rehabilitation services in Greece, with the coverage by healthcare insurers. Concomitantly the financial hemorrhage incurred by outsourcing rehabilitation services outside Greece is reduced. The slogan of ANAPLASI is: “No patient abroad, for health and rehabilitation services”!
The new ANAPLASI is established. The location of the new ANAPLASI, in the center of the Prefecture of Attica, in the heart of the social fabric, with green and open spaces, close to a large Hospital (“General Hospital of Konstantopoulio – St. Olga”) was a strategic choice. The new ANAPLASI is less than two kilometers from the Attiki Odos (Heraklion exit, Kymi exit) and the National Road (Nea Filadelfia exit). It is easily accessible from all central road axes (Kifissias Avenue, Galatsi Avenue, Dekelias Avenue, Heraklion Avenue) and is served by buses (OASA stop “Agia Olga”) and metro (ISAP station “Nea Ionia”). The construction of the state-of-the-art building, designed and intended for high-level intensive rehabilitation starts at a rapid pace.
The new ANAPLASI is up and running in Nea Ionia. For the first time international standards of care are provided in the Health and Rehabilitation sector for all adult neuromuscular rehabilitation services under one roof. Patients with conditions of the nervous, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal or respiratory systems in need of convalescence and rehabilitation are able to choose between inpatient and outpatient care. It also caters for people with chronic mobility problems who can enjoy an exceptional Day Care program, tailored to their needs. In addition, rehabilitation services are provided both at Anaplasi, or a home. in collaboration with Nursing Institutions, at home.
