During the last week of May the Ministry of Health celebrated Rehab Week. This was a chance for all the rehab departments; speech, physio, occupational therapy, audiology and orthotics etc. to celebrate the work done throughout the regions and to raise the awareness of rehab services.

We completed several activities during the week, such as a street outreach, where we handed out information to members of the public, radio and TV shows and open days, when we had the opportunity to showcase some of our resources and talk to members of the public and also staff working in other parts of the health sectors.



we also did the customary "walk", which are quite popular here in Guyana and usually involve free t-shirts, a steel band and getting up for a 6.00am start on a Saturday or Sunday!!! (apparently it is because it is cooler....not such a popular event for your average VSO I have to say!) The walk finished off at the rehab centre where the celebrations and "wining" continued.

wining (noun)
A sexy dance from the Caribbean, often done to reggae music





Each department also submitted articles to the local newspapers, which proved very successful as we received several new referrals from people who saw and read the article. Our article was based on one of our patients, who has done really well since coming to therapy...so well that we have since discharged him, which was actually a little hard on us since he was such a lovely kid to work with!




All the rehab assistants and staff also had a retreat, which was a day of eating, hanging out and gaffing! A really nice day and opportunity for everyone to get together and have a break from the working environment.