AT P100 per session, an employee can now avail of the physical therapy (PT) services of the University Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Center (UPTRC) manned by the College of Health Sciences’ PT department.

The announcement came from Prof. Manuel Ted F. Aurelio Aug. 8 during the administrative council’s regular monthly meeting, Aug 8. 

This developed as President Miriam E. Pascua issued a memorandum July 20 advising all personnel to visit the University Clinic at their most convenient time for health monitoring and medical advice.  The memorandum came about in response to the call of the Civil Service Commission for a healthy government workforce and to the alarming sudden deaths of university employees due to cardiac or heart problems.

The UPTRC provides efficient and quality services based on an integrated and individualized program. Manned by dedicated, competent, and qualified staff, the center offers rehabilitation medicine consultation and physical therapy services.  It also has a gym and fitness center where individualized gym protocols are structured for clients with different sets of fitness goals.  At P200, an employee or student can already avail of the facilities of the gym for 26 days.

The facility, established with the aid of Ilocos Norte Second District Representative Imee R. Marcos, has the following major equipment and facilities:  ultrasound, parabath, pre-mixed paraffin wax, hydrocollator tanks, infrared radiation lamp, ultraviolet radiation lamp, LASER therapy, and shortware diathermies.  It also has electrical simulation devices, postural/gait training devices, and strengthening/endurance/stretching devices.

Individuals with neurologic, cardiologic, orthopedic, pediatric, pulmonary, and vascular disabilities may benefit from the rehabilitation program of the center. 

Professor Aurelio, however, reiterated that a patient must be first seen or diagnosed by a medical doctor before undergoing PT service.  This is the reason, he said, there is a need for a strong collaboration between the University Clinic and the UPTRC.  He added that there should be enlightened consciousness and heightened attention to health.  He lamented the fact that employees visit the center with a promise that they would go back for treatment but they would never return. Aurelio, however, worries of the center’s capacity or space in case of a down-pouring of patients. The clinic is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays.

President Pascua personally recommended that employees may be excused at 4 p.m. in case they want to visit the clinic.