Users of the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (CHUA) will offer equipment to the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service of the Hospital de Faro, to be used in hand re-education therapies.
The acquisition of this tool is the result of the «good will of some users of this service and professionals in the sector», who collected and raised «the large hundreds of euros» needed to buy it, according to Bruno Gabriel, one of the beneficiaries of this «innovative equipment ».
This user of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service, who since May has been doing daily treatments for a broken finger, said he was touched by the gesture and decided to publicize it.
Contacted by Sul Informação, Helena Gomes, director of this service at the Hospital de Faro, spoke of a "nice gesture" from users and explained that the equipment in question "is a theoretical concept of the Canadian rehabilitation school, which Europe is adopting".
“We had a loan here for this equipment, for testing. And the users who tested it liked it a lot and took the initiative to help acquire it», He revealed.
The entire process was handled by users, including Bruno Gabriel, on his own initiative, in an “altruistic and voluntary manner”.
“So far, we have not yet talked to the Board of Directors of CHUA, in order to buy it, as it would not make sense to do so before we finish the evaluation and the tests, which are still continuing”, said Helena Gomes.
Even so, the same responsible admits that the decision would be, "in principle", to keep the equipment.
The CHUA service director added that she does not know if users have already managed to raise the necessary money to acquire the therapeutic tool, whose price is “not very high”, but that this will not be an impediment to its acquisition.
“If the money is enough, no request will be made to the Board of Directors. Otherwise, the hospital will guarantee the necessary funds», he believes.
Bruno Gabriel, who launched the idea of making a collection, was immediately accepted by other users, explained to Sul Informação that the idea was to ensure that the equipment remains at the service of users, permanently, without having to depend on an always lengthy public procurement process.
The equipment in question, called “Progressive and Sequenced Analytical Mobilization”, allows the application of “a treatment method for the re-education of the hand and upper extremity that uses mechanotherapy to facilitate mobilization”, according to this user.
This tool is used to re-educate the hand in cases of traumatic hand injuries, stiffness, nerve damage and functional disabilities, «using exercise sequences, whose intensity has various levels, which can be progressively adjusted during treatment».
“It is innovative equipment, not from a technological point of view, but from a monitoring and evaluation point of view. With it we can measure the evolution of the user, weekly or fortnightly. With the other equipment we have, it is difficult, they are more subjective and require much more interpretation», explained, for her part, Helena Gomes.
Hand Therapy is a specific aspect of Occupational Therapy, inserted in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service of CHUA, in Faro, “which, due to the dynamics and knowledge of the professionals, is a reference service, with the support of the Clinical Direction of this service and the Board of Directors of CHUA”.
«A significant percentage of users referred to Occupational Therapy benefit from the approach in the area of hand therapy», concludes Bruno Gabriel.
Photos: Bruno Gabriel
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