UP Ibalon Bicol: 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Month

Showing posts with label 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Month. Show all posts

UP Ibalon to Assist in Launch of 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Month

6/18/2009 | Posted by gimpayamd@gmail.com | Edit Post

The whole month of July, the Philippines celebrates the 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) Month. Launching activities shall be held in various venues in Naga City on July 1, 2009-- the first time that NDPR launching events are held outside the National Capital Region.

Dr. Josephine Robredo-Bundoc, in-country Director at the Philippines Walking Free clinic and consultant at the UP-PGH Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is this year's Coordinator of the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Month. Dr. Bundoc is a native of Naga City and the younger sister of city mayor Jesse Robredo.

The day starts off at Plaza Quezon in downtowm Naga at 7:30 in the morning with "Disability Walk…. towards Independence." Two hundred persons with disabilities from the 14 municipalities of Metro Naga will be “ walking hand in hand “ with their able-bodied fellow Bicolanos as a manifestation of unity and support towards activities, programs and issues towards upliftment, independence and empowerment of the disabled.

The walk ends at SM City Naga lobby in Barangay Triangulo where another activity, “ Talents…. Enabled!,“ shall be held. Amputees who have regained their mobility with use of limb prostheses shall showcase their dancing skills;the hearing-impaired shall sing on key; and the the wheelchair-borne will gracefully sashay in tempo.

Medical and Rehabilitation Services, themed, "From Objects to Subjects :Towards Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Society" follow. Free medical services will be provided to the disabled while lay fora pertaining to wellness and disability prevention will be conducted to their caregivers and health providers.

The day culminates at the Naga City Civic Center with a lecture from a deaf-blind lawyer from Finland, Atty. TRiku Virtanen, who will talk on the legal, academic and socioeconomic issues of Independent Living ,Human Rights and full Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities.

Members of UP Ibalon Bicol, Dr. Bundoc's co-alumni at the University of the Philippines, assist her in this momentous event.

Labels: 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Month, Dr. Josephine Robredo-Bundoc, Naga City, NDPR, Philippines, SM City Naga, Triku Virtanen, University of the Philippines, up ibalon bicol

UP Ibalon with Walk Free Project in Naga City

6/18/2009 | Posted by gimpayamd@gmail.com | Edit Post

In the run-off to the 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPAR) Month in July Dr. Josephine Robredo-Bundoc and company from the Walk Free Project and Physicians for Peace distributed and attached pre-fitted limb prostheses to amputees in Naga City.

The half-day event took place at the Naga City Civic Center last weekend.

Prior to actual attachment of the prosthetic devices to the beneficiaries, lectures were held, aimed at people giving care and assistance to the disabled. The audience consisted mostly of Barangay Health Workers (now called Health Educators) from various Barangays of Naga and companions of the recipients. The amputees received personalized instructions on how to live with their artificial limbs and gadgets.

With artificial limbs in place, the amputees later took time to show off what they can do when they are able to walk again. Initially learning to walk around in flat surface, they later walked unassisted up and down the stairs. Surprsingly, some recipients could instantly twist and and turn to the tune of the Cha-cha-cha.

One amputee who used to earn a living driving a tricycle before he lost his right leg was a happy man as he pedalled his vehicle around the compound with lone unforgetable passenger, a lady anchorwoman from a local TV network who gave him the feature interview of his life.

This activity was a follow through of the free wheel chair distribution project of the Physicians for Peace early in February this year. In the said activity, Filipino-American Dr. Juan Montero, head of the international charity foundation, was the guest of honor and speaker. As a side activity, the prospective amputee recipients had been evaluated, examined and measured.

Eight million Filipinos are disabled, 2 million Filipinos cannot walk and 1 million are amputees. The Walk Free Project, whose vision is "functional return to all walks of life," aims to do something about the grim statistics.

In Naga City the Project's partners include UP Ibalon Bicol,Kapisanan ng Sangguniang Barangay Kagawad (KSBK) Naga City chapter, and the City Government of Naga.