The Country’s Physiotherapists Praised

The country’s physiotherapists are being hailed for their work in helping to improve the quality of life of Jamaicans who suffer injuries and illnesses.

Acting Deputy CEO and Director of Production at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Enthrose Campbell, who is the survivor of a car crash that resulted in a crushed hip, requiring her to undergo surgery, said she is thankful for the care provided by physiotherapists which helped her to get back on her feet.

“Thank you for the job you are doing for Jamaica, and thank you for the job you did for me,” she said.

Miss Campbell was speaking at the Physiotherapy Week Open Day breakfast at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), downtown Kingston, on September 3.

The event was organised by the hospital’s Physiotherapy Department as part of a week of activities from September 3 to 9 to mark World Physical Therapy Day under the theme ‘Health is Wealth. A Holistic Approach to Workers’. World Physical Therapy Day is Saturday, September 8.

Physiotherapists help to restore mobility and function in people affected by injury, illness or disability through movement, exercise, manual therapy, education and advice.

It is a science-based profession and takes a ‘whole person’ approach to health and well-being, which includes the patient’s general lifestyle.

Miss Campbell encouraged the practitioners to take care of themselves, so that they, in turn, can care for their patients.

“At the core of your job is the care of your clients. How are you going to do that if you are not well? So you need to eat properly, you need to get enough rest and you need to challenge your own brain,” she pointed out.

Acting Chief Executive Officer at the KPH/Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH), Colleen Wright, said she is proud of the work of the physiotherapy team.

“Over the years, as a discipline, you have provided a service that greatly enhances the standard of life of persons,” she noted.

Relating her experience of needing therapy after a surgery, Mrs. Wright said that physiotherapy “improves the quality of life of individuals, it boosts one’s self-confidence and self-esteem, when you are in a position where previously you are able to move your limbs normally and then all of a sudden you are unable to”.

National Coordinator for Physiotherapy Services, Ministry of Health, Nicholas Ford who addressed the event, said that the KPH’s Physiotherapy Department has a reputation for being world-class.

“The therapists are hard-working, caring, dedicated, and inspirational. I would like to wish the Department a very good Physiotherapy Week… . Continue the good, dedicated, life-changing work that you do, because you all make a difference, and you all leave a legacy in your own way,” he said.

Senior Medical Officer, KPH, Dr. Natalie Whylie, for her part, agreed that the Physiotherapy Department is “one of the jewels in the crown of KPH”.

“Not only is the Department beautiful, but very energetic, very organised, and very efficient in the delivery of clinical services here at KPH. The Department is well run,” she added.

The week of activities culminates with a Physiotherapy Clinical Symposium at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Medical Sciences Building, on Sunday (September 9) from 8:00 a.m. to 4: 00 pm.