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Sheltered shop facing closure

The nation's only sheltered workshop for patients with ichthyosis, commonly known as "fish-skin disease," may be unable to carry on its service, a social welfare institution said yesterday.

The Kindness Companion Shop run by the Home for Ichthyosis Patients, the country's only institution for sufferers of the illness, was forced to close its doors at the end of last month after the landlord decided to sell the property, the home's executive secretary Wang Ssu-han (王思涵) told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview yesterday.

The home commenced a house-hunt in late July but has been turned down by nearly 30 landlords, who refused to rent houses to serious ichthyosis patients.

The workshop, which started operation in Taipei in September 2004, offered job training, consultation and shelter for ichthyosis patients in northern Taiwan. Like the home, it was the only facility of its kind in the country.

"We offered ichthyosis patients an environment to learn how to get along in the community," said Wang. "It is more like a stopover. They move on from here."

She added that the shelter also cooperated with the Council of Labor Affairs and offered job opportunities to people seeking help at the council's Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training.

A statement released by the shelter said the workshop made profits by selling imported and second-hand furniture. All profits were used to fund medication for ichthyosis patients.
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