Bahiana promotes II Health Fair Caring for Good in Itapuã

“The Health Fair Cuidar Faz Bem has been reaffirming, in its second edition, the commitment of Bahiana with social responsibility actions, mainly in the context of health promotion and prevention. This year, it presented a different characteristic and had as its premise to strengthen and disseminate the actions developed in the Teaching-Care Clinic of the Bahiana (ADAB)”, explains the coordinator of the Fair, Prof. Aidê Nunes, who attended the II Health Fair, Cuidar Faz Bem, held on May 21, in the neighborhood of Itapuã.

The action had a partnership with Itapuã City, a community portal in the neighborhood of Itapuã, Sine Bahia and the Catholic Church and brought together professors and students from Nursing, Medicine, Psychology and Physiotherapy courses and the community in general, offering spaces for everyone the ages.

The stands of the Hospital Humberto Castro Lima were available to the population, which worked in partnership with the HTLV Center and the HTLVida Association, promoting information on prevention and eye care; Living with Epilepsy and Mental Health which addressed patient care for epilepsy and mental disorders; the spaces Hora da Criança and Saúde da Mulher, with the promotion of health education, in addition to visits to identify hypertension and diabetes. Through Sine Bahia, work permit and social security services were also offered, as well as registration on the Mais Emprego portal, which enabled fair members to search for vacancies in the labor market.

According to the coordinator of the Nursing course, Prof. Cristiane Magali, the Cuidar Faz Bem fair began with the Nursing course linked to the extension project Cuidar Faz Bem, which is an existing project within the ADAB. “Because we are part of the ADAB, which is an interprofessional and interdisciplinary clinic, Professor Humberto de Castro Lima Filho invited us to organize the fair in this perspective, bringing other services from the clinic, expanding to this interdisciplinary approach. We are honored with this invitation and it was our wish that the fair would take this proportion of providing care in which all of us in health are included and this is the spirit of Bahiana”, He concludes.

The ADAB manager, Dr. Humberto de Castro Lima Filho reports that the fair is managed by students, which is an important factor, as they will experience these practices in their professional life. “Our mission as a school is to offer these opportunities to students, who provide educational activities with the community, teaching them how to proceed in certain situations and these people will have a role in disseminating this knowledge”, he explains.

At the Hora da Criança stand, playful and creative activities were carried out, with a mini-theater about the Zika virus and microcephaly, as well as games to fight the mosquito. Information on healthy eating and a library with free books for children were also discussed with the participation of Anjos da Enfermagem and Anjos de Jaleco. During the fair, items were also sold through a Chic thrift store, the proceeds of which will be donated to the HTLVida Association.

"Today, here, it is yet another consolidation of the partnership we have with the Bahiana, special to the Cuidar Faz Bem extension group and we managed a much bigger fair than last year. We are very happy and the promotion of our stands is well accepted by the public”, explains the president of Associação HTLVida, Adejane Oliveira.

The fair's student coordinator, Jaddy Kelly, a 9th semester student of the Nursing course at Bahiana, reports that the purpose of the program is to promote health for the community, especially for those people who do not have access to services. "I was born and raised in Itapuã and the fair this year, with the expansion of services, is essential for both the community and my course, as we have the opportunity to add our academic knowledge and apply it in practice, in the stands", reports Jaddy.

“This year we managed to reach a much larger audience with the diversity of services and stands offered, we focused on other stands such as Saúde na Mulher, Hospital Humberto Castro Lima, Epilepsy and Mental Health and for my training it is wonderful, a unique experience, especially for doing part of the coordination, as we participate in all stages from the organization to the infrastructure of the fair”, explains Tarsila Santos, the fair's student coordinator, a student in the 9th semester of the Nursing course.

The purpose of the Mental Health stand was to bring the normality of mental disorders to the community, in addition to selling handicrafts made by Juliano Moreira's patients, whose sale was reverted to the hospital. “There is still a lot of prejudice related to mental disorders, so we want to convey to people that those who have diabetes or hypertension and take medication every day are no different from a person with a mental disorder, which is a disease like any other. The didactics of the stand is precisely to break these stigmas and prejudices”, reports the nurse trained by Bahiana, Rebekah Belo. 

As an innovation of the fair, the Epilepsy stand brought a dramatization informing the population about the care of an epileptic crisis, as well as information about the disease. “We had the intention of bringing this stand, as people are still very prejudiced against epilepsy, many due to lack of knowledge about the disease. Our objective is to inform the community and make them aware that epileptics can have a normal work and social routine”, explains Alice Barros, a 9th semester student in Nursing and coordinator of the Epilepsy stand.

“I am a resident of Itapuã and I brought my children to see the fair, which is excellent, especially the Hora da Criança stand, which provided a lot of information not only for my children but also for me, in a very playful way,” says resident Eliezer de Jesus Saints.

The action was unprecedented in the neighborhood and moved residents who had the opportunity to enjoy free services and public interest. “I stopped by and took the opportunity to visit the stands. An initiative like this is very important, as we often do not have access to many of these services and information”, concludes Glória Silva, retired.

Check out the photos.