One of the staff members of the City Health Office (seated, right, wearing a personal protective equipment) is shown doing a health examination over a young patient (seated, left) during the Balay-to-Balay visitations. Photo courtesy of the City Media Bureau
Tagb’s Balay-to-Balay program helps people to maintain their health
The Balay-to-Balay Program, spearheaded by the City Health Office (CHO), aims to control and prevent the development of non-communicable diseases among the residents of Tagbilaran City especially among the vulnerable and socially-advantaged groups, the City Media Bureau says.
The program employs basic strategies such as the mobilization of healthcare workers and continuous health education.
Through the City Health Office’s nurses, midwives and barangay health workers, anti-hypertensives as well as hypoglycemic medications are delivered directly to the beneficiaries’ houses.
Follow-up check- up and monitoring of their health status are provided as well. Before the pandemic, the beneficiaries proceeded to the Barangay Health Center for their regular doctor’s consultation and for a refill of their maintenance medications.
For those who are bedridden and thus unable to visit the Center, they were monitored by their respective Barangay Health Workers.
As the pandemic started, beneficiaries communicate with the City Health Office through telephone hotlines.
In turn, the medical team visits their residence for their needed service. During the surge of the Coronavirus disease (Covid) health crisis, the medical team religiously visits every patient’s home wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE).
Furthermore, with the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Tagbilaran city, senior citizens were not allowed to go outside their residences.
Nevertheless, those affected doctors have continued to give their health consultation services through phone calls and text messaging to the patients. According to City Health Officer Dr. Jeia Pondoc, the most significant impact that the program has done is the reduction of death cases caused by hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
From 2017 to 2020, there is a 24.43% decrease in the number of deaths due to hypertension and diabetes mellitus. This can be attributed to the regular provision and refill of medications and monitoring done by the City Health Office on the status of individuals with hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
This results to prompt referrals of these patients to the CHO doctors for changes in medical management and thus contribute to the effective and proper management of these chronic diseases.
The Balay-to-Balay Program is responsive and relevant to the call of the times. Despite the challenges and threats brought about by the present pandemic, the health services still reached the target beneficiaries, the City Media Bureau said.
AIR-CONDITIONED COGON GYMNASIUM. Residents of barangay Cogon have a new air-conditioned gymnasium which is the product of the efforts of the barangay officials of Cogon headed by Punong Barangay Nicanor Besas. The installation of brand-new air-conditioning units is in partnership with the City Government of Tagbilaran. Photo courtesy of City Media Bureau
Centenarian gets P20k from the City Government
The City Government through the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWD) handed over the P20,000 check to Jose Butalid of barangay Poblacion 3. Butalid is one of the centennarians of the city.
The centenarian from Tagbilaran City will also receive P100,000 from the National Government.
The turn-over was headed by Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA) head Belen Leyble, Federated Senior Citizens’ Association Tagbilaran City chapter president Esperanza Brunidor, CSWD‘s Cirena Sia and Servidia Biloy.
The Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs continuously delivers the daily free birthday cakes and cash incentives to the city’s senior citizens amidst the Coronavirus disease (Covid) pandemic.
The city officials ensured compliance with the health protocol and safety standards during the delivery of the benefit to Butalid.
The new normal changes the way we celebrate the natal day of the city’s senior citizens.
For its part, the City Government administered flu and pneumonia vaccines for free to the elderly, as a way to help them cope with various illnesses and diseases.
From January to July this year, the OSCA has already released to senior citizens the following: 10,693 birthday cakes, cash gifts, 9,160 movie booklets, 2,806 grocery booklets, and 4,143 medicine booklets.