As Guyana celebrates Rehab Week 2018, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Social Protection while making consorted moves to live the theme, “Increasing Coverage & Enhancing Quality, Care”, are also calling on persons in need of these services to make full use of them.

This was the call made by Minister within the Ministry of Public Health Dr. Karen Cummings, as she launched Rehab Week 2018 at the Hugo Chavez Centre for Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation, West Berbice, on last Monday. The minister also pledged unhindered access to disability and rehabilitative services by persons in need of those services.

Meanwhile, the Palms Rehabilitation Department which falls under the ambit of the Ministry of Social Protection has a great role to play in offering these rehabilitative services.
Giving an insight into the workings of the Palms Rehabilitation Department, the institution’s physiotherapist, Jana Edghill told the Pepperpot Magazine, that the Palms Rehab Department is mainly a Neuro Clinic, and has as its main focus the rehabilitation of the spinal cord, while providing therapy for persons who have had a stroke, traumatic injuries or conditions such as Guillain- Barre Syndrome and multiple sclerosis.

But more than that, the services at the department cover three specialities: Physio Therapy; Occupational Therapy, and Speech and Language Therapy.

PHYSIOTHERAPY
The physiotherapy component of rehabilitation focuses on gross motor movement which addresses getting the patient with stroke to resume walking, climbing the stairs; and perhaps regaining the ability to speak. The exercises to which they are exposed are very important, Edghill said and should not be taken for granted, since they help the patient to regain strength in the core muscles, as well as to have balance and mobility of their legs and arms. In addition, they help with your fine motor skills such as writing, cooking, being able to button your pants again, and picking up objects.”

As a rule of thumb, when patients come to the department, she said the therapists look at them holistically – for every neurological condition for speech and language, as well as orthopaedics disorder, since orthopaedic conditions also affect one’s activities. And so, the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) has a close working collaboration with the Palms Rehab Department.

Attention is also paid to the speech and language component, paying attention to swallowing deficits, or if the patients have difficulty in bringing out what they want to say – especially for those who would have had a stroke or traumatic injury and suffered memory loss, or any cognitive problems.

A BOON FOR EXERCISE
As part of its programme for the observance of Rehab Week, the Palms Rehabilitation Department, for the first time, on Wednesday, shifted the Physiotherapy clinic sessions from the building which houses the rehabilitation department to a more or less ‘outdoor facility’ – to the nearby private building which was intended to be a soup kitchen’.

That new facility- massive and having the capacity to accommodate literally hundreds of patients, creates an environment that is extremely user-friendly and was well received by the enthusiastic patients and their family members accompanying them to clinic sessions. Throughout the session, understanding and goodwill prevailed and there was a feeling of camaraderie among the persons using the service.

Another plus for the new arrangement, Edghill says, is that doing the exercises in this form gives patients the chance to work together. “For some patients, their self-motivation becomes decreased when they have a stroke and so opt to stay home than come out to the clinic. They don’t want to exercise because they are afraid of people looking at them,” she reasoned, but added that there is no need for that.

There is no reason for that since the patients at the clinic are all like family; show respect for each other and dwell in togetherness and camaraderie. The department is urging family members to come in as well and to learn what to do at home, so they can be of help to the patients.

Officials at the department said that while the shift to the bigger building (soup kitchen) was intended to be a gesture for the observance of Rehab Week, it ideally suits the purpose of exercising and games for persons on physiotherapy. Hence, the possibility of having it over an extended period would be explored.

Among other activities hosted by the Rehabilitation Department over the last week were:

• A visit to Lethem by a Rehabilitation Service team from Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) to conduct speech and language therapy. Speech Language Therapists work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat speech, language, social/cognitive-communication and swallowing disorders in children and adults.

• A Patient Appreciation Day at the Bartica Rehabilitation Department hosted by the staff of the facility.

Physiotherapy sessions are held twice weekly – on Mondays and Wednesdays, beginning at 8:00 hrs. Occupational Therapy patients are seen on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while Orthopedic patients are seen on Tuesday afternoons. Brain and spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions are seen on Friday afternoons. New referrals from hospitals are seen and assessed on Friday mornings.

WHAT IS EXPECTED OF PATIENTS
It must be noted that the services provided patients at the Palms Rehabilitation’s Neuro Clinic and other such services are efficient, effective and second to none. For this reason, whenever a patient visits a physician at a hospital and is referred to the Palms for therapy or whatever intervention, that decision should be respected and taken seriously. And once you have been placed on therapy, it is expected that you act in accordance with what you are told to do. If you are placed on an exercise regimen, follow it systematically. Patients will be given exercises to do at home as well. Do them without fail.

Make a note of your clinic dates and honour them. In that way, you will be quicker on your way to recovery.
Meanwhile, Minister within the Ministry of Health Dr. Karen Cummings, in delivering her remarks at last Monday’s launch of Rehab Week, in East Berbice, emphasised to the gathering that : “Rehab targets and assists those who have experienced a loss in function to regain that maximal function,” adding, “These services provide relief and mobility to many Guyanese.”

SUCCESS RATES
Asked about success rates for the patients on therapy, physiotherapist Edghill responded: “The success of our patients depends on how often a patient would come to clinic. There is a big correlation there, because rehabilitation is an ongoing process. Especially with neurological conditions, it is not something that takes two weeks to get fully back into working order.

It is something that has to be repetitive for an extended period of time, and our success rates depend on patients’ attitude to our clinics. We as health professionals (the Rehab team) try to encourage our patients to come to clinic and to do their home programmes when we give them.

We have to stress the importance of coming to clinic on their days and getting their exercise; get the repetitive motion; get back into the habit of doing things you normally would have done, or you’re going to forget it. You have to exercise every day. It is a must and patients’ compliance with the exercise programmes determines our success rates,” Edghill reiterated.

This admonition reinforces the statement made by Dr. Karen Cummings, at last Monday’s launch of Rehab Week that: “Rehab targets and assists those who have experienced a loss in function to regain that maximal function. These services provide relief and mobility to many Guyanese.”