eye-care-public-health-congress-2018-tracks

7 / 18

Page 23
Eye Care 2018 & Public Health Congress 2018 Archives of General Internal Medicine | ISSN: 2591-7951 | Volume 2
S e p t e m b e r 0 3 - 0 4 , 2 0 1 8 | L i s b o n , P o r t u g a l
alliedacademies Joint Event on
PUBLIC HEALTH, EPIDEMIOLOGY AND NUTRITION
OCULAR PHARMACOLOGY AND EYE CARE
&
World Congress on
19th International Conference on
Elisabete Roldao, Arch Gen Intern Med 2018, Volume 2 | DOI: 10.4066/2591-7951-C4-011
PUBLIC HEALTH IN DISASTER
MANAGEMENT - THE OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY PERSPECTIVE
Elisabete Roldao
Health School of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal
TheHealthSchoolofthePolytechnicInstituteofLeiriacreatedthe“HumaniTer
Project”. This is a recent Project of the Occupational Therapy Educational
Program, that arises from a partnership between the school and the NGO
Doctors of the World to respond to the assumption of the Leiria Polytechnic
Strategic Plan 2020 (IPL, 2017), promoting institutional relations and the
integration of students in community intervention contexts. This project has
been implemented last year in Castanheira de Pera, after the devastating fires
that affect the region, with four students and a clinical educational supervisor
integrated in the first humanitarian mission implemented in Portugal - Missão
Esperanca (Mission Hope).
The catastrophe context in place was terrible. The population is poor, with
few studies, some even illiterate, poorly informed, lonely, unable to move
by their one means, with many comorbidities and aged. The conditions and
institutions in the community are not sufficiently responsive to the needs
of the population at such times and in a catastrophe situation, as this, they
have been undersized. Geographical features and isolation are severe and
resources, such as transportation, are almost non-existent and alternatives
too scarce or costly. This affects the population and consequently their ability
to take care of themselves, even without being in catastrophic situations.
In a disaster context people lose their homes, their families, pets, garden, small
farms, hobbies, roles and responsibilities, tasks, and so on…they get lost.
The World Federation of Occupational Therapists indicates that occupational
therapists can collaborate with fragile communities to facilitate the
reconstruction and reorganization of their lives and the re-encounter of
significant occupations (Sinclair & Thomas, 2005). Occupational Therapy can
assess the situation, reestablish occupations, restore meaningful activities
to these people, find new tasks and functions to perform in order to rebuild
their identity as occupational beings. It is extremely important to maintain
activities, roles and responsibilities and avoid occupational deprivation while
maintaining emotional balance.
In this framework, with the population victim of the Castanheira de Pera
catastrophe, and to promote the public health, there were implemented
community projects, such as tapestry, health education and literacy, home
visits, recommendations on the adaptation of housing and institutional context,
cognitive stimulation and movement sessions in groups, recommendations
and training of assistive technology products for the daily living activities.
The Occupational Therapists on the field also cooperate with different local
institutions promoting community activities, lectures and actions promoting
health.
Elisabete Roldao is an Occupational Therapist since
1992 and is now finishing her PhD in Rehabilitation at
Lisbon University. She is a professor of Health School
of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal. She is
the President of the Portuguese Association of Occu-
pational Therapists, the representative of Portugal in
the World Federation of Occupational Therapists and
in the Council of Occupational Therapists for the Eu-
ropean Countries. She is a member of the Technical
Assessment Committee of the Occupational Thera-
py Area, and a member of the Working Group for the
Analysis and Presentation of Proposals in the field of
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Ambulatory,
created by the Central Administration of the Health
System, IP. She is also a member of the Regional
Council of Mental Health of ARSLVT. She is the Direc-
tor of the Magazine APTO and the founding member
of the International Interest Group of the Portuguese
Association of Occupational Therapists.
BIOGRAPHY