Ondina Beach once again welcomes volunteers, teachers and students from Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública para o ParaPraia 2020. As atividades que incluem banho de mar assistido, esporte e lazer adaptados são destinadas a pessoas deficientes e com mobilidade reduzida e terão início no próximo dia 4 de janeiro, a partir das 8h da manhã (Ondina – em frente ao Instituto Baiano de Reabilitação – IBR).

O ParaPraia é uma iniciativa que ocorre em Salvador desde 2014 e tem o objetivo de viabilizar a pessoas com mobilidade reduzida o direito constitucional e a cidadania de ir e vir, inclusive durante o lazer. O projeto é fruto de uma parceria entre a Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, a Secretaria Municipal de Sustentabilidade, Inovação e Resiliência – SECIS de Salvador e instituições privadas. No último verão, o projeto recebeu cerca de 300 banhistas e contou com a ação de 40 voluntários por dia.

Training
As happens every year, the volunteers who will act as monitors in the project were trained by teachers from the Physiotherapy course at Bahiana for performing the assisted bath.

The teacher and coordinator of the Physiotherapy course at Bahiana, Luciana Bilitário, reports that the first volunteers were professors and students of the Physiotherapy course and that, over time, more courses were included, such as Physical Education, Psychology, Nursing and Medicine. Today there are representatives from all courses at the Bahiana, in addition to students, professionals and professors from other institutions, thus having a mix of volunteers.

Luciana points out that, since the beginning of the project, the idea has been to promote assisted bathing in a responsible and safe manner: “Our role continues to be to guarantee technical safety for all people who will enter the sea”. According to the teacher, there is also a breaking of paradigms and barriers regarding accessibility. For students and former students of the Bahiana it is aggregating to participate in the practice of leisure, which differs from experiences in the classroom.

Infrastructure
In all editions of ParaPraia, the Municipal Secretariat for Sustainability, Innovation and Resilience – SECIS provides an accessible infrastructure on a city beach, through the provision of amphibious chairs (special chair with wheels, wide and large, that adhere to the sand of the city. beach and float in sea water), access lanes, sports equipment, support items, tents, recreation spaces and umbrellas, including chairs for companions.