College of Health Sciences – With the goal of extending its expertise in the field of health care and health instruction as well as keeping up with the spirit of the university’s foundation anniversary, the college sponsored a Health Education-Cum-Health Services Program last Jan. 6 at the LES Batac school grounds.

Conducted with the full cooperation of the Extension Directorate, the activity gathered the teaching and-non teaching groups as well as those from the community.

Lectures delivered in the local dialect were rendered by CHS faculty members: Health education on diabetes mellitus by Dr. Manolita S. Crisostomo of the Department of Nursing; Management of hypertension by Ms. Liezl Amor B. Mauro, Department of Nursing; Rationale of drug use by Mr. Franklin V. Ibana, Department of Pharmacy; and Screening and management of osteoporosis by Ms. Marilou M. Jamorabon, Department of Physical Therapy (PT).

An open forum followed after each lecture to accommodate questions from the audience. Supplementary printed materials in Iluko on the topics discussed were also distributed to the participants.

The health services held in the afternoon consisted of skills demonstration on how to prepare herbal medicines by the Pharmacy group, blood sugar screening and blood pressure taking by the Nursing group, and osteoporosis screening using DEXA by the PT group. The use of the DEXA bone screening machine was coordinated by Prof. Manuel Ted F. Aurelio, Physical Therapy Department chair, through Dr. Isaias P. Alipio Jr., MMMH-MC Department of Rehabilitation Medicine head and the Merck Sharpe and Dome Drug Company. 

A total of 150 individuals became recipients of all the activities and services rendered by the college.

“This is a very good way for us to be able to promote awareness to all regarding the importance of health. We hope that more of this type of program will be conducted in the future,” said Dr. Oliver Wendell J. Lozano, physiatrist of the University Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Center (UPTRC) who was responsible in interpreting the test results for the osteoporosis screening.

In a related news, Prof. Ryan Dean T. Sucgang, UPTRC chief physical therapist, was invited to discuss osteoporosis and other connected diseases and to update the public regarding the Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Program of the PT Department in the Jan. 25 airing of the MMSU Rimat ti Ilocandia radio program at DWFB Radyo ng Bayan-Laoag. Prof. Sucgang dealt with the causes, risk factors, detection, treatment, and prevention of this dreaded bone disease and answered common questions regarding the topic and other related subject matters during the one-hour program.