Portuguese Association of Physiotherapists
The Portuguese Association of Physiotherapists celebrated World PT Day 2021 (WPTD) with several activities aiming to:
- Promote the profession to the public;
- Promote the initiatives implemented by Portuguese physiotherapists in the context of the commemoration of the WPTD;
- Increase the literacy of the public regarding how physiotherapy can help managing the impact of Long COVID-19, and COVID-19 in general;
- Increase the awareness about the importance of physiotherapy and its benefits in several conditions.
To achieve this, the following initiatives were implemented:
- Translation of the materials created by World Physiotherapy for the WPTD;
- Creation of an area on the website of the association dedicated to the WPTD with the translated materials;
- Promotion of a contest to reward the best initiative to celebrate the WPTD promoted by Portuguese physiotherapists;
- A Facebook page dedicated to the WPTD where the translated materials and the national initiatives were promoted;
- Launch of a children's book "Tomás discovers physiotherapy”, with an online promotional event. The book is mainly aimed at the youngest – but not only – and seeks to explain, in a simple and fun way, what physiotherapy is;
- Several participations in national news agencies, including the national television, with interviews to the President of the Portuguese Association and news in the context of the WPTD and the importance of physiotherapy to the sustainability of the health system (link1, link2 (after minute 6:10), link 3);
- A Facebook frame alluding to the WPTD that was shared on the social network;
- An issue of the Portuguese Association of Physiotherapists magazine (Revista FISIO) dedicated to the discussion of the quality of the response to COVID-19 in Portugal, in the context of physiotherapy (Physiotherapy after COVID-19 infection: are we providing an adequate response?).
Alcoitão School of Health Sciences
As part of this year's celebration of World PT Day, students and teachers of the physiotherapy course at the Alcoitão School of Health Sciences developed a mobile application (ReageCOVID) whose main objective is to promote self-management, in the short and long term, in the post-COVID-19 context .
The app is public and free to access and is divided into several sections, where self-management strategies were presented that could contribute to improving the functionality of people affected by COVID-19 (and Long COVID).
The app can be used in desktops, smartphones and tablets throughout this link: https://reagecovid.glideapp.io/
Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça - SESARAM (Madeira)
A group of physiotherapists from Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça - SESARAM developed a series of activities with the support of different entities. Using this year's theme, the main objective of the activities was to promote the importance of physiotherapy in the rehabilitation for Long COVID. The target population were people with post-covid symptoms, people with physical motor disabilities resulting from other pathologies, health professionals, young, adult and elderly population in general (Portuguese and foreign). A total of 69 participants took part in the day.
