Physical Health Philippines Project #17043

Rehabilitation in the Philippines

by World Rehabilitation Fund

Project Report | May 5, 2016
From Relief to Rehabilitation in the Philippines

By World Rehabilitation Fund | Project Manager

WRF's partner providing care to an amputee

Dear Supporters,

As the medical and rehabilitation needs persist in the wake of the Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), WRF is working with local and international partners to garner support for quality rehabilitation services for those affected by the storm in the Tacloban region.

While our efforts thus far have made a significant impact—our partner, the Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (PARM), recently confirmed that more than 7,000 people have received rehabilitation services since WRF’s donation of essential supplies and equipment to three major hospitals: Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Hospital, Divine Word Hospital and Eastern Visayas Medical Center—these hospitals still need rehabilitation equipment, as well as a Prosthetics and Orthotics workshop in order to serve the needs of persons with disabilities in the more isolated towns of Leyte, Samar, Ormoc and Northern Mindanao.

In February, PARM CARES produced a short video (see the link below) to document the needs of those affected by the disaster, and the collaborative efforts of those working tirelessly to provide essential rehabilitation services. WRF is proud of our partnership with PARM, and we are humbled to be a part of an international team collaborating to ensure that persons with disabilities are not forgotten.

As we move forward, PARM advises that the best way to provide assistance would be to obtain Physical and Occupational Therapy equipment and materials that would enable the hospitals to re-establish rehabilitation medicine units, in particular a Prosthetics and Orthotics workshop. PARM’s needs assessment includes an inventory of specific rehabilitation equipment and supplies needed in order to scale up services.

We are close to achieving our goal, but we need your help. WRF is seeking support to provide the remaining items so that we can send these essential supplies in 2016.

Please join us as we endeavor to provide essential equipment and supplies to serve persons with disabilities and improve the lives of those impacted by the Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban. Thank you for your continued support!

Best wishes,

The WRF Team

PARM team thanking WRF for our support

Delivery of WRF's equipment donation

Links:

PARM CARES video update, 2016

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Dec 17, 2015
Happy Holidays and Thank You from WRF

By World Rehabilitation Fund | Project Manager

Dear Supporters,

We at WRF wanted to share our gratitude and wish you well during this holiday season. WRF could not make a difference in the lives of persons with disabilities without your support!

As the year comes to a close, we also wanted to give you a project update on the Rehabilitation Project in the Philippines.

STILL SEEKING SUPPORT FOR REHABILITATION SUPPLIES

As the medical and rehabilitation needs persist in the wake of the Typhoon Haiyan, WRF’s local partner, Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (PARM), recommended that support continue to focus on the Tacloban region, and confirmed that the Remedios T. Romualdez Medical Center (RTR), Divine Word (DW) Hospital, and Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center are the hospitals best positioned to provide quality rehabilitation services for those affected by the storm and those whose service options became severely limited because of damages to health services.

PARM advised that the best way to provide assistance would be to obtain Physical and Occupational Therapy equipment and materials that would enable the hospitals to re-establish rehabilitation medicine units. PARM’s needs assessment includes an inventory of specific rehabilitation equipment and supplies needed in order to scale up services.

Through outreach to various partners, WRF was able to obtain donations that accounted for approximately three-quarters of the needed supplies and materials. We are close to achieving our goal, but we need your help. WRF is seeking support to provide the remaining items so that we can send these essential supplies in 2016.

Happy Holidays,

The WRF Team

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Jul 21, 2015
Building on 50 Years of WRF's Service and Commitment to Persons with Disabilities in the Philippines

By World Rehabilitation Fund | Project Manager

Ensuring greater mobility with a new wheel chair.

Dear Supporters,

We at WRF hope that you are having a wonderful summer! While it’s been a busy summer at WRF, we have been taking a moment to pause and reflect on WRF’s history as we approach our 60^th anniversary this fall. With that in mind, for our report this quarter we wanted to share a little bit about our history in the Philippines as well as give you an update on the recovery plans and current needs of our partners who are working with persons with disabilities in the Tacloban region.

REFLECTING ON WRF'S LEGACY

1960s

WRF’s involvement in the Philippines goes back some 50 years when WRF inaugurated the first Rehabilitation Medicine training program in the country at Santo Tomas University, the oldest University in Asia. Virtually all rehabilitation physicians and physical therapists in the Philippines were trained in that program.

1970s

Dr. Tyrone Reyes, a graduate of the Rusk Institute in New York, modernized the Rehabilitation Medicine program at Santo Tomas Medical School so that training for this field could take place in the Philippines and helped establish a physical therapy program in 1974. Moreover, Dr. Reyes re-formed the Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (PARM) as the country’s branch of the International Society of Rehabilitation Medicine.

1980s

In the 1980s, WRF provided a fellowship for Dr. Antonio Periquet, who launched a pioneering program in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR). The program provided outreach services throughout most areas of the nation and its success was documented in a WRF publication that acted as an influential stimulus in spreading CBR methodology for developing countries throughout the world. In the 1980s, a donation by WRF of an electromyography nerve conduct machine enabled the Philippines General Hospital to develop a diagnostic center for detecting nerve conduction problems. Dr. Periquet eventually became the Minister of Health for the Philippines, and Dr. Reyes became a Regional Director for WRF in the Philippines and the first President of PARM.

1990s

The Physical Medicine and Physical Therapy programs have continued to operate not only educating physicians and physical therapists from the Philippines but from neighboring countries as well, including Indonesia and Malaysia. WRF provided more specialized assistance in 1991 to assist victims of a 1990 earthquake that devastated Cabanatuan City. Also in the early 1990s, WRF sponsored the training of Chinese doctors in rehabilitation medicine at Santo Tomas University. In addition, WRF provided funding for a medical library in rehabilitation and discontinued the Regional Office in the late 1990s having helped accomplish the establishment of a viable and highly competent rehabilitation medicine infrastructure in the Philippines.

Today

In response to the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in 2014, WRF re-initiated program activities in the Philippines. Partnering with PARM, WRF identified hospitals seriously affected by the storm. WRF provided critical rehabilitation medicine, supplies, and equipment to three hospitals in the Tacloban region: Remedios T. Romualdez Medical Center (RTR), Divine Word (DW) Hospital, and Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, which collectively serve thousands of people annually.

The donation of equipment and materials from WRF coupled with hospital renovations by the Philippines government enabled the launch of fairly full rehabilitation service in November 2014. In the months following the opening of rehabilitation services in the three hospitals, more than 2,300 persons have been served, including over 1,800 outpatients and over 500 persons who required hospitalization.

RESPONDING TO REHABILITATION NEEDS IN 2015

As the medical and rehabilitation needs persist in the wake of the storm, WRF’s local partner, PARM, recently conducted a needs assessment to identify how best to respond during the long-term recovery phase of the disaster. PARM recommended that support continue to focus on the Tacloban region, and confirmed that the Remedios T. Romualdez Medical Center (RTR), Divine Word (DW) Hospital, and Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center are the hospitals best positioned to provide quality rehabilitation services for those affected by the storm and those whose service options became severely limited because of damages to health services.

PARM advised that the best way to provide assistance would be to obtain Physical and Occupational Therapy equipment and materials that would enable the hospitals to re-establish rehabilitation medicine units. PARM’s needs assessment includes an inventory of specific rehabilitation equipment and supplies needed in order to scale up services. Through outreach to various partners, WRF was able to obtain donations that accounted for approximately two-thirds of the needed supplies and materials. Currently, WRF is seeking support to provide the remaining third of the items.

Warmest wishes,

The WRF Team

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