Newly-improved physical rehab center gives hope to amputees

DAVAO CITY, June 26 (PIA) -- Patients of the Davao Jubilee Foundation, including those with physical disabilities resulting from armed violence, are benefiting from a newly built physiotherapy clinic.

Catherine Fry, ICRC health delegate for Mindanao said the new facility will help patients to confidently recover and function to their full potential, so they can regain their independence and dignity.

She said the physiotherapy clinic will strengthen the capability of the physical rehabilitation center.

“Surely, we can reach out and help more amputees with the facility,” Fry said.

Allison Lopez, spokesperson of the International Committee on the Red Cross said the DJF’s fully equipped physiotherapy clinic has individual treatment rooms and gait training area for patients who need to undergo post-prosthetic exercise or to recover from nervous system injuries.

She said the facility can accommodate about 30 patients availing of physical therapy every month.

 

Lopez said the newly-inaugurated clinic last Monday was constructed with the support of the clinic of the ICRC.

She said the DJF is a non-profit organization that provides physical rehabilitation services to amputees and other people with disabilities and caters to people from conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

“The ICRC has been referring war-wounded patients to the foundation since 2000,” Lopez said.

In 2012,the ICRC supported the upgrade of DJF's workshop as it shifted to polypropylene technology, which produces prosthetic and orthotic devices more quickly and that are more durable and easier to maintain.

In the previous year, a gait training area where patients could practice using their new prostheses was built with ICRC assistance.

In the first quarter of 2013, more than 160 patients received services in this center while 41 polypropylene prostheses have been delivered to the amputees. One of the technicians is studying in a recognized school of prosthesis in Cambodia with a full sponsorship from the ICRC.

The ICRC is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organization that assists and protects victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence.

This year, it continues its assistance to weapon-wounded persons by prepositioning medical materials in 17 hospitals in conflict-prone areas of Mindanao.

The organization also covers the medical costs of some vulnerable/indigent patients injured due to armed violence.

The ICRC also works with jail authorities to improve the delivery of health care services within detention facilities and strengthen the links with referral civilian health facilities. (Joey Dalumpines/PIA-XI)