The Professional Board of Physical Therapy of Madrid held an event on its premises last Wednesday September the 8th, in celebration of the International Day of Physical Therapy. ‘Acerca tus manos a otra realidad’ (bring your hands closer to another reality) was the first event of its kind to bring together more than a dozen NGOs dedicated to the use of Physiotherapy within International Development Projects. DGH was invited to take part in this event, with a talk entitled “Las Manos y el Maiz en El Salvador”, given by Physical Therapist Isabel Quintero, who shared her experiences working with health Promoters Ana and Lola from the Santa Marta Rehabilitation Center in El Salvador. The talk was very well received, with Spanish physiotherapists eager to learn more about the work of DGH. Other organisations working in areas close by to DGH projects, such as Guatemala, Bolivia and various sites in Africa, as well as projects further afield, (such as India), are promising contacts, enabling us to learn from eachothers’ experiences and strengthen the presence of physical therapy in our project sites. Among the attendees were Belén Prado, the Vice-Councillor of Health of the Community of Madrid as well as members of the press who covered the event for several different media. DGH supports the Santa Marta rehabilitation center since 1999, by providing a salary to honor the efforts of Ana and Lola, sending volunteers to accompany and train the health promoters, and through the donation of rehabilitation materials.
