10th anniversary of Aleana House
A 10th anniversary celebration has taken place in Aleana House in Clonard which, under the auspices of Ard Aoíbhínn services, has been serving the community for the last decade.
Opened in 2008 the facility is a four-bedroomed high support respite house which caters specifically for children with intellectual difficulties.
In particular the centre supports those with high medical or physical needs and people with autism.
Speaking about the event the Chief Executive Officer of Ard Aoíbhínn services in Wexford, Gerard Heaney, said the day was one of celebration.
‘When we opened first our operation was based in Oulart but we made an agreement with the HSE and relocated to here which just made much more sense,’ he said.
‘It just made sense that respite would be based here in town,’ he added.
Mr Heaney went on to outline how the premises provides support: ‘Aleana House is a four-bedroom residential unit and we also provide Saturday and after-school services there.’
‘We currently offer 28 weekends of residential support and we could love to provide more but that is dependent on funding,’ said Mr Heaney.
The centre provides an invaluable service to the people who use it and that fact was underlined at the weekend’s anniversary celebration where service users and their parents and carers got to mingle together in a relaxed, informal manner and as Mr Heaney said: ‘This day was just about celebrating the anniversary with families and service users.’