PHO SPEARHEADS THE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTH
By: Marjorie Ann Ramiscal-Lucero Photo By: GPC-PHO Date: May 16, 2019
Provincial Health Officer II Dr. Hector T. Beñas welcomes the participants of the 2-day Disaster Risk Reduction and Management for Health (DRRM-H) Orientation and Strategic Planning Workshop on May 16, 2019 at the Diego Silang Hall, City of San Fernando, La Union. The main goal of the activity is to guarantee uninterrupted health service delivery during emergencies and disasters, avert preventable morbidities and mortalities, and to ensure that post disaster disease outbreaks do not occur.
The Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU) through the Provincial Health Office (PHO), led by Dr. Hector T. Beñas, PHO II, conducted the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management for Health (DRRM-H) Orientation and Strategic Planning Workshops at Diego Silang Hall, Provincial Capitol, on May 16-17, 2019.
The activity aims to guarantee uninterrupted health service delivery during emergencies and disasters; avert preventable morbidities, mortalities, and other health effects of emergencies and disasters; and ensure that post-disaster disease outbreaks shall not occur.
Relevant topics about DRRM-H namely Provincial DRRM-H Plan, DRRM-H Institutionalization, and Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center (ITRMC) DRRM-H Plan were discussed. These were presented to prevent, prepare, recover, and adapt from any unwanted incidences during disasters while complying with the global standards and mandates, and focusing on the quality health outcomes.
Mr. Alvin Cruz of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office emphasized that La Union is one among the “Topnotchers” when it comes to hazards. He said that La Union ranked 2nd in Risk to Earthquake, 18th in Risk to Projected Rainfall Change, and 15th in Risk to Typhoons. Overall, La Union was ranked 20th in Combined Climate and Weather-related Risk.
Furthermore, Ms. Maria Eloisa A. Sarmiento, Nurse V at the Department of Health - Region I, stressed that it is very important that the rescue team should be trained and commodities should always be readily available for the DRRM-H Plans to be successful. Lastly, Dr. Marvin F. Munar, DRRM-H Manager of ITRMC stated that 70% of the respondents of their survey are not yet prepared for disasters, while 20% said that they are prepared and 10% for maybe prepared.
As a result, the Local Government Unit participants underwent a series of lectures and workshops facilitated by the PHO staff to broaden their planning skills. They were taught on how to plan for the different circumstances so that La Union would be disaster resilient by 2022. The different workshops included Prevention and Mitigation Planning; Preparedness Planning; Response Planning; and Recovery and Rehabilitation Planning.
After which, doctors and medical practitioners from around La Union had an interactive discussion during the open forum facilitated by Dr. Beñas and the Health Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Coordinators of PHO. They deliberated about strategies, augmentations, concerns, and recommendations for the improvement of the DRRM-H goals and to attain a Disaster Resilient La Union by 2022.
