Belgium/Free pedicures for Restos du Coeur beneficiaries in Liège
When you live on the streets or have serious financial difficulties, your health often takes a back seat. With this in mind, Restos du Cœur de Liège is offering free medical pedicure to its beneficiaries. These treatments are provided by students from IPEFA (Institut Provincial d'Enseignement Supérieur et de Formation pour Adultes) Herstal.
We meet people here who can hardly walk any more.
"Every Monday and Friday, we have medical pedicure trainees who come to look after the feet of beneficiaries," explains Bob Balbourg, director of the Liège Restos du Cœur. "It's something that sounds overrated, a bit luxurious, but in fact, you have to see it as people who can hardly walk anymore and who live on the street all the time. So, inevitably, foot care is a primary need that is not often met. We meet people here who can hardly walk any more, and after two or three days of treatment, they can walk the streets again."
"For us, it's a pleasure to receive Restos du Coeur clients," testifies Jamilla, a student at IPEFA. "We feel that people really need this kind of care."
At 33, Aurélie went back to school to become a medical chiropodist: "I really wanted to work in personal assistance, personal care. People who live on the streets, they come here every day to get food, then they have to find a place to sleep, so their feet are more in demand than ours."
"If we don't come, it's hot," confirms this beneficiary. "We walk a lot, we have to, we have no choice. It's about time I came along."
A win-win for everyone
And it's a win-win situation for everyone. Trainees and beneficiaries alike. " The trainees come for the duration of the course, which is three months," explains the director of Restos du Coeur. "What's fantastic is that they tell us, 'When we're doing a placement at school, we get elderly people who have perfect feet, on which there's practically nothing to do. On the other hand, when we get here, we realize what we're doing, how useful the care is and what the results are. And so it's really a win-win for everyone."
Source: www.rtbf.be
