Team

Experience & Activities

Professional bio

Dietlind Gouws is a director at training company Rehab Skills Lab and owner of adult neuro physiotherapy practice Rehab Lab.

Qualifications

She holds a BSc from the University of Pretoria where she majored in Physiotherapy and obtained an MPhil in Disability and Rehabilitation Studies from Stellenbosch, focusing her thesis on Physical Rehabilitation.

Background

Although initially being interested in working with people who have spinal cord injuries, Dietlind had the opportunity to treat paraplegics in the spinal unit of a hospital.

This proved the catalyst for her career in spinal rehabilitation, which falls under the broader category of adult neuro rehabilitation.

She knew she wanted to work with Cape Town-based physiotherapist Dr Elsje Scheffler and, in 2006, her hard work paid off when she joined Elsje at the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre.

Here she was educated in the provision and set-up of wheelchairs and by 2009 she qualified as a trainer of the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced courses.

Rehab Skills Lab

In 2010, Dietlind started developing course content and coordinating training programmes on behalf of DARE Consult (Disability and Rehabilitation Consultancy) for clients across South Africa.

Three years later, she partnered with Dr Elsje Scheffler at DARE Consult and, in 2019, they took their partnership a step further to establish Rehab Skills Lab, through which they run Wheelchair Service Delivery Training courses for medical professionals.

Dietlind also assesses patients to make sure the correct wheelchairs and components are prescribed. These assessments are based on a number of factors, including where they live, what activities they take part in and the postural support they require.

In addition, she consults for wheelchair suppliers and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) and educates patients and their caregivers on the correct usage of their wheelchairs.