User:Stewarts Care/sandbox

Overview
Stewarts Care is a non-profit state-funded charitable organisation that provides a wide range of care and therapeutic support services to promote the education, wellbeing, dignity, health and happiness of children and adults with an intellectual disability in Dublin and surrounding counties. The organisation receives core funding from the Health Service Executive (HSE), the public health sector in the Republic of Ireland.

History
Stewarts was established in 1869 in Dublin, as an institution to provide for the education, training and maintenance of children with an intellectual disability from across the island of Ireland.

It derives its name from its founder, Dr. Henry Hutchinson Stewart, who was born in Dublin in June 1798. He was the son of a Rector of Donabate Parish, North Co. Dublin. Henry came late to medicine - he took his M.D. when he was 31 years of age. One year later, he married Eliza Going, a clergyman's daughter. The couple had no children.

Dr. Stewart held several medical positions, amongst them that of local Dispensary Doctor in Co. Westmeath. Stewart also worked as a Medical Consultant in a hospital in North Brunswick Street that would re-emerge in the 20th century as the Beaumont Hospital. Among the patients in the hospital, there were many elderly people with an intellectual disability.

Henry was sensitive to their situation and over the next ten years worked vigorously to assemble a committee of highly motivated and influential medical and business professionals. The ultimate result was that, in 1869, the first 12 residents came to live in ‘Stewarts’ in Palmerstown, Co. Dublin.

Henry relinquished official responsibility for ‘Stewarts Institute’ at the age of 71, but he continued his benevolent interest in its progress.

In 1942 the name was changed from ‘Stewarts Institute’ to ‘Stewarts Hospital’ and once again changed in 2010 to “Stewarts Care” to reflect the extended social care services the organisation provided.

Services
As a person-centred organisation, Stewarts Care is committed to developing services and supports that help to ensure positive lived experiences to adults and children with intellectual disabilities. These services include;


 * Day Services  (in line with HSE New Directions Policy)
 * Residents Services
 * Respite Services
 * Therapeutic and Clinical Services
 * Education Services

In addition to the care, education and life skills programmes provided, Stewarts Care strives to present optimum lifestyle choices in the areas of recreation, arts, sport and cultural opportunities which present real choices to those supported by the organisation.

These services are predominantly delivered in the communities of Dublin, Kildare and mid-Leinster. Stewarts Care employs a team of more than 1,300 dedicated and skilled staff who reflect the values of Stewarts Care as they co-create rich lived experiences for the people they serve.

Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)
In 2023, Stewarts Care was awarded a three-year international accreditation for excellence in its employment supports and job development services for people with intellectual disabilities. Awarded by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International, an independent, non-profit accreditor of health and human services, this award represents the highest level of accreditation that can be given to an organisation and shows Stewarts Care’s substantial accountability and conformance to internationally accepted standards that promote excellence.