KHMH staff receives physiotherapy training
If you’ve ever been a hospital patient you know that at certain times, even the simplest physical movements can seem like climbing Victoria Peak. Hopefully, thanks to some new training for Belizean hospital staff, those painful moments will be far fewer. News 5’s Patrick Jones reports.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Handling the wide variety of ailing patients at the KHMH is challenging enough for nurses and hospital attendants. But a series of workshops and practical sessions on body mechanics, posture and different lifting techniques is aiming to make the jobs of these professionals easier.
Kenroy Sedacy, Attendant, K.H.M.H.
?I?m learning to lift patients, how to manoeuvre myself, lifting patients and moving them from one bed to another.?
Patrick Jones
?How will what you learn here help you as an attendant at KHMH??
Kenroy Sedacy
?Well it will assist me by helping me to protect myself from hurting my own body and not hurting the patients.?
The training is being conducted by a group of thirteen physical therapists from the Medical College of Georgia. Leader of the delegation, Jamie Johnson, says apart from helping to heal physically, the women are also providing spiritual encouragement for the trainees and patients that they see.
Jamie Johnson, Physical Therapist
?If you think about the length of time that people works, it?s usually ten, twenty, thirty, forty years and if you are directly lifting all the time your body is going to wear down. And it?s very important to know the proper technique of how to lift patients, how to lift heavy objects to salvage your own body so that you don?t have injuries yourself. So it?s basically for injury prevention and also for efficiency in doing your job.?
It?s a very interactive training, and the students get to be on the other end of their profession. Johnson says it is designed in this way so that the participants get the most out of their time in the classroom. Auxiliary Nurse Phyllis Alvarez says she can?t wait to get back to her station to try out the new techniques.
Phylis Alvarez, Auxiliary Nurse, KHMH
?These tools that they are using and the way they are teaching us how to use it its very important. So by dealing with the patients and the instrument they are using it will be ok. We can manage.?
?It?s new, it?s new to KHMH and to us also. And I mean it?s very good.?
Patrick Jones
?Is it going to make life easier for you and your patients??
Phylis Alvarez
?I think it?s going to make it much better. I mean learning the hands-on training by specialists is very much important. I think we are going to learn and know how to use the equipment with the patients and know how to deal with them with their condition much easier.?
Jamie Johnson
?Many patients obviously when they are sick, they are in bed for along time, or have had surgery. And its really important to get patients up very soon, even while they are sick. A lot of times people think you shouldn?t do that, you should just let them be there. But really studies have shown it?s important to get people up to get their blood flowing, which will help them to heal quicker. So we are teaching different techniques of how to get patients up, how to teach them how to walk with different devises based on their mobility levels.?
From walkers for people who need a lot of assistance down to using a simple walking stick, the volunteers are teaching basic ways of manoeuvring. Resident physiotherapist Barbara Perez says this week?s training will help both staff and those who seek assistance at the institution.
Barbara Perez, Physiotherapist, KHMH
?I think if the Belize people know more about the physiotherapy you are not going to see children or people like they can?t walk and they can?t do everything. Because the people here sometimes they have kids and they never bring them to therapy and the kids are very sick. They feel bad and they can?t walk again because they don?t bring it on time.?
Patrick Jones
?And there are simple things that can be done to correct some of these problems.?
Barbara Perez
?Yes. It?s very simple right. If you get a baby and the baby have six months, you can make him maybe walk. But if the baby have three or maybe one year its impossible to do like the first time that you can do it, right.?
Jamie Johnson
?Elderly patients, obviously they are not usually as motivated, they get out of breath more, there is just different obstacles that you have to deal with when you have brittle bones and people that aren?t as active. Young patients, a lot of time, you will see children with disabilities so its very different type of therapy teaching kids how to do very basic functions. Whereas adults have already learnt how to do those functions and you are just trying to help them with their quality of life and things like that. So it?s a very different spectrum but very rewarding at the same time.?
The workshops will continue through Friday and anyone interested in seeing any of the visiting therapists of attending one of the sessions can contact the public relations department at the KHMH. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
