Ambassador Participates in Inauguration of FUNTER Facilities
November 30, 2004

Ambassador H. Douglas Barclay participated in a ceremony to inaugurate the new building of the National Rehabilitation Center, FUNTER.

Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca presided over the ceremony. Also present were First Lady Ana Ligia de Saca, FUNTER President Alfonso Quiñonez, Antiguo Cuscatlan Mayor Milagro Navas, FUNTER Vice-President Juan Carlos Eserski, and USAID Director Mark Silverman.

FUNTER is a non-governmental, non-profit organization created in 1987 to provide rehabilitation services to the handicapped. The FUNTER building was seriously damaged in the 2001 earthquakes.

The US government, through USAID, contributed $300,000 to the reconstruction effort. FUNTER’s $217,000 contribution provided complementary infrastructure works. The organization also bought and installed equipment (air conditioning, voice and data systems) worth more than $60,000.

The services currently provided by the National Rehabilitation Center include: physical therapy, a prosthesis factory for replacement limbs, audiometric services, language therapy, child psychology and electrotherapy. Repairing the building allowed a reorganization of physical space to accommodate separate therapy services for children and adults, electromyography, sensory and early childhood stimulation, hydrotherapy, laboratory of motion and movement and other medical services.