From BENJOL to DRR, A Comprehensive Receipt for Healthy Living
Rumah Kita, 18/7/2019 A SEMI-PERMANENT building stands in the backyard of the Indonesian Bethel Church which was collapsed by the 7,...

http://www.pokja-rumahkita.id/2019/07/from-benjol-to-drr-comprehensive.html
Rumah Kita, 18/7/2019
A SEMI-PERMANENT building stands in the
backyard of the Indonesian Bethel Church which was collapsed by the 7,4 SR Palu
earthquake in September 29th 2018. The building has a 5 m x 8 m less
terrace, facing directly into the Gawalise mountains. Two cacao trees stand on
the front yard. Several long wooden chair are arranged in a row as a waiting
room. In the part that meets the wall and sequentially closes the letter L,
there is a registration desk, a pharmacy table complete with various types of
medicines and a doctor's table. Two doctors and four nurses are ready to serve
patients who arrive throughout the day. This is the Pelkesi health service
clinic that operates from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon. The
clinic is clean, open and has a beautiful view.
"I often come here to check my health.
The doctor is friendly, medicines are given free and the place is quite loose,
simple. Usually we wait and be checked in a closed room, but then we feel
tired. Here the clinic is on the terrace with fresh air, bright and comfortable
atmosphere," said a mother who brought her daughter for medical checkup.
Both of them sat in the waiting room talking to other patients who were queuing
too.
"At the beginning of clinic services,
patients who came could be more than 120 people per day. Now the conditions are
normal and better. However, there are still a large number of patients who
come, per day, on average there are still over 70 people," said Dina,
Pelkesi's information and communication staff.
In addition to serving patients who come
directly to the clinic, the Pelkesi medical team is also ready to come to the
patient's home if there is an emergency. Both Pelkesi doctors are on duty, Dr.
Elpa and Dr. Gina will refer patients to the nearest health center or hospital
if there are emergency medical services that cannot be handled at the Pelkesi
clinic or during a home visit.
“Usually the patients that we take cares during home visit are elderly
people, pregnant women, people with disabilities and stroke patients,"
explained Dr. Gina. She is from Jogja and feels medical services in the
emergency response area are very challenging. "This is my first experience
working in a disaster area. I see patients here having a great motivation and
enthusiasm to get move on, continue their live,” she said. Doctor Gina began
working for the Pelkesi Clinic in Jono Oge Village, Sigi from last April to the
end of December 2019. She claimed that she learned a lot from her patients.
Patients often tell other things beyond health problems. Doctor Gina patiently
listened to the shared personal story of her patients.
As a health service alliance organization in Indonesia, Pelkesi itself has
a lot of doctor and nurse resources that can be deployed to areas of disaster
or conflict whenever needed. These medical personnel can serve in the affected
area for two weeks until the agreed time. "So there is a rotation system,
according to the schedule and needs in the field," Dina added.
"We are currently opening a routine health check-up service. Like
checking sugar levels, cholesterol and gout. We also provide medicines
according to patient needs. Everything is free," explained Dr. Elpa. This
young UKDW graduate doctor gave easy-to-remember tips to patients. "So
that uric acid is not high, then we need to limit consumption of Benjol," he said. Benjol stands for
B for Bayam (Spinach), E for Emping (Chips), N for Nangka (Jackfruit), J for Jeroan (Viscera), O for Otak-otak (grilled fish caked) and L for
Lain-lain (Others). These are type of
food that is very often consumed by Indonesian people. "So if you want
normal uric acid or go down, reduce consuming these food," he continued.
The Pelkesi health team serves 10 villages in three districts; Palu, Sigi, Donggala
and target as many as 20,000 survivors affected by the earthquake, tsunami and
liquefaction. In addition to mobile clinic services, Pelkesi also conducts
training in improving medical skills for health cadres at the Posyandu, Pustu and village levels. As
for the villagers, according to Dina, the training provided was in the form of
traditional health services which included acupressure and traditional
medicines and herbs.
PELKESI's medic team in GBI Jono'oge on a Mobile Clinic Service (source:PELKESI doc.) |
Doctor Elpa is checking a child in GBI Jono'Oge. Source: PELKESI's doc. |
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Mobile Clinic Service in Vilaage of Rakuta, District of Sigi. Doc.by: SV |
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Mobile Clinic Service in village of Omu cooporate with local church at the village, Sigi, Central Sulawesi. Doc by: AZ |
Eko Rusmiati train the participants to understand and use the skill of traditional health service. (16/7/2019). Source: PELKESI'S doc. |
"We also built a clinic that we will hand over to local church
administrators. In addition, we are conducting community managed disaster risk reduction
(DRR) activities in 10 villages. Through DRR approach, we especially hope that
people can use village funds (dana desa)
to improve access, facilities and health services in the village," said Dian.
Thus, Pelkesi health services try to provide complete recipes so that
people can live fully healthy. Increasing capacity, minimizing risk, so that
threats that lead to future disasters can be managed better.
(* By Michael Yudha for Pelkesi / ACT
Alliance*)