Bahiana says goodbye to Parapraia

Last weekend, Salvador said goodbye to the 2015 edition of the Parapraia program. The initiative of the Sustainable City Secretariat, which had the support of Bahiana, through the Physiotherapy course, from Banco Itaú and Salvador Shopping, started on January 3rd, at Ondina beach, where it was held until the 18th. From January 24th to February 8th, the actions of the project took place at Ribeira beach.

Always on Saturdays and Sundays, Parapraia assisted around 30 disabled people and people with mobility difficulties per day, providing them with a sea bath attended by Physiotherapy students and teachers, in addition to volunteers from other courses at the Bahiana. For greater safety, the project offered a structure of tents and ramps adapted for mobility on the sand, in addition to amphibious chairs, providing greater well-being for participants to remain in the water.

 For the coordinator of the Physiotherapy course, Prof. Luciana Bilitário, among the main gains for students to participate is the exercise of citizenship. “We have a huge gain in terms of humanization, citizenship, solidarity, love for others. The participation of teachers took place in an extremely spontaneous way. We had professors from other courses and this year we have the participation of all Academic Leagues. We had volunteer professionals as physical educators and we received many proposals for participation, so I think that next year will be even better”.

The Sustainable City secretary, André Fraga, declared that “if the project had managed to serve only one person, it would have been worth it, because with every family member or any wheelchair user we talked to, we noticed the stories. They are people who have not gone into the sea for 16 years, people who have never bathed in the sea. So, this transformation is not just in the wheelchair user, it will transform the family member, all the people around, friends and also the people who are, in a way, offering this possibility of service here.”

It also highlights the performance of Bahiana for the feasibility of the project. “We had students from Bahiana voluntarily, the teachers who are here every weekend, also on a voluntary basis, following the project, developing actions, training people. So, if we could take stock, I would say that every year we have been expanding our activities, we went from four to six weekends, from one to two beaches and our goal for next year is to continue this ascent, thinking on other beaches, more time, more sports, some workshops for family members. The idea is to transform this project more and more and, who knows one day, have it permanently or once a month. Anyway, this is not off the radar, of course it demands a series of needs, organizations”.

Last weekend, the Academic League of Functional Dermatous (LADEF) and the Academic League of Physiotherapy, Orthopedics and Sport (LAFORTE) were acting voluntarily. According to the physiotherapist and former student of the Bahiana, Juliana Menezes, “all the work we are doing today is related to the prevention of skin cancer, information regarding the use of sunscreen, which is the ideal factor for each type of skin”.

The teacher of the Physiotherapy course and monitor at Laforte, Ana Lúcia Barbosa, explained that the league's work at Parapraia consisted of guiding caregivers about transportation, transferring the wheelchair user from their chair to another place and the best way to take care of the body. "So this action that we are developing this weekend is the first big action of the year 2015 and besides that, last year we participated in the CIPA from there at Bahiana  with intervention of care, orientation with the body, application of TAPE, we participated in the scientific exhibition, also serving groups of children, adults, the elderly; we developed a work with elderly people here in Ribeira, which was an invitation made by another medicine league, so we came to do a work of guidance on risk of falls, posture and the idea is this, to be more and more engaged in the issues social, to give back what we know to society in some way”.

 
Sidney Santana, professor of the Biomedicine course, participated in Parapraia as a volunteer. He says that he got to know the project through an invitation made by a Physiotherapy student with whom he worked in the Candeal Program. “Well, I'm a teacher at Bahiana from the Biomedicine course, but the Candeal program, of which I am part of the social inclusion group, gave me all the support to work with this type of public. I was invited by one of the students from the physiotherapy course who participated in my social inclusion group at Candeal and, then, I was there for the first time, there in Ondina, where the project started and I was able to participate, help the public, and from then I liked it and kept coming not only for the weekends in a row in Ondina and also here in Ribeira, which is already making me miss it”.

Professor Mariza Leão has participated in the project since last year. She declares that the initiative is to be congratulated, but there is a need for the city to organize, as the lack of accessibility is still a major barrier. “We have to prepare, organize, because not everything is accessible, so now coming from the beach with the project, it's better. I live in Vila Laura. Since last year I heard about the project, I started coming and I'm always following the dates. Congratulations on the initiative and, if you could every month, a day, a Sunday, a holiday, it would be very good. All year round in this city, it's summer, let's claim it.”

The lack of accessibility to citizenship are points that still need to be worked on. As pointed out by the taxi driver, Lobes Borborama, father of the wheelchair user, Elizângela dos Santos, graduated in Information Science. “I think this should be done monthly, this cannot be done sporadically. Throughout the year, without this activity, it is very difficult to go to the beach, it is painful. I think the worst thing is not having anything, because we have to embrace what we have in our hands. It used to go to Flamengo beach, but due to the lack of tents, it became insecure, it has no structure”.

Check out the photos.