Baguio cops wins 3rd Red Orchid Award for smoke-free programs

 CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – This summer capital attained its third Red Orchid Award for its effective implementation of smoke-free programs.
    With the feat, the city was elevated to the Hall of Fame of the prestigious incentives award program, the highest distinction given by the Dept. of Health to government organizations working to achieve a 100 percent smoke-free environment.
     The DOH-CAR awarded the plaque of recognition to the city government through the City Health Services Office led by Acting Asst. City Health Officer Dr. Lourdes Pakoy during the Am-Among for Health Gawad Kalusugan program held last Oct. 20, 2023.
    The city achieved a score of 91.66 percent based on the quality standards on tobacco prevention and control set by the World Health Organization.
    The Smoke-Free Baguio Task Force led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong expressed pride in the city being a “a beacon of excellence in implementing smoke-free programs recognized as a smoke-free City having one of the best and strongest anti-smoking ordinances in the country.”
    The city received its first Red Orchid Award in 2018 and the second in 2022 where it garnered a score of 98.8 percent for its continued efforts of strictly implementing the Smoke-Free Baguio Ordinance through inspection, apprehension, and information and education campaigns.
    The task force said the city has around 1,500 smoke-free enforcers coming from the city and community task forces.  The apprehension activities are supplemented by massive information drives involving the different sectors.
    The Smoke-Free Baguio Ordinance regulates tobacco products and ENDS (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems), and disallows smoking in public areas and indoor smoke areas. Penalties range from P1000 to P3000 for individuals and P2000 to P5000 for establishments. The content of the ordinance can be found in www.smokefreebaguio.com/ordinance.
    The city actively implements Ordinance No. 34-2017 or the Smoke-Free Baguio Ordinance  which regulates tobacco products and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and disallows smoking in public areas and indoor smoke areas. Penalties range from P1,000 to P3,000 for individuals and P2,000 to P5,000 for establishments.
 

 CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

Compassionate city: Baguio’s mental health program

BAGUIO CITY -- Student interns of the Mental Health and Wellness Unit of the Baguio City Health Services Office undergo hands-on training on the city's mental health programs including actual interactions with vagrant patients.
    Mental Health coordinator Ricky Ducas Jr. said bulk of the on-the-job training tasks of these students involve field work that had them conduct profiling and administering basic care to vagrants with psychosis with supervision from their office.
Ducas said this is in keeping with the city government's thrust to foster service with compassion.
    The CHSO now under Acting City Health Officer Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes started this community immersion program last year when they began accommodating student interns taking up nursing and psychology courses.
    Around 300 psychology and nursing students from St. Louis University, University of the Cordilleras and Pines City Colleges undergo immersion at the office each year.
    Ducas said that to make their exposure to the community relevant and worthwhile, students were taught to relate with the patients, do profiling for recording and monitoring purposes and provide basic services to them.
    "They provide psychosocial support like they talk to them to give them a sense of interpersonal relationship," Ducas said.
    "They take their vital signs and maintain their personal hygiene like give them a bath with the help of the pay comfort room owners who waive their fees, give them a change of clothing, trim their nails and the like." 
    Ducas said this is so that students learn about compassion and empathy early on so they can imbibe these virtues in their future professions and treat their future patients with genuine care.
    Their records showed there were 22 psychotic vagrants being served in the city.  Six of them had been reintegrated to their families through the joint effortd of the CHSO, the City Social Welfare and Development Office, Baguio General Hospital and other public and private offices and groups.
    Their profiling includes assessments of the patients' health conditions and family background and it was found out that that most of these vagrants have no more support groups capable of caring for them so that despite the offices' efforts to rescue and reunite them with their families, they still go back to the streets.
"It's either that their siblings are too old or sickly.  They may have younger relatives but they have their own families and have problems of their own.  Most of them are also economically deprived.  There are those who may be capable of caring for them but are wary because of the stigma that a person with such illness can be dangerous," Ducas said.
Nevertheless, efforts to provide them basic assistance and find ways to reunite them with their families and communities are continuing, Ducas assured.

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

9 food establishments closed/Training seniors on computers

BAGUIO CITY -- Nine establishments, six of which were good businesses, had been subjected to closure proceedings due to unsanitary condition of their operations since January this year.
    Engr. Bryan Charles Carame, head of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Division of the City Health Services Office, said that of the six food establishments, two were engaged in taho production, two in lumpia wrapper production, one pizza production and one kakanin production.  
    The three others were sari-sari stores. 
    Some of these establishments have reopened after complying with the recommendations and correcting their infractions under the guidance of the division.  
    Carame said monitoring still continues to ensure that they will not repeat their misdeeds.
    Last Oct. 10, 2023, a a lumpia wrapper factory at Hilltop Market was closed down by the Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) assisted by the Public Order and Safety Division by virtue of a closure order issued by Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
    The lumpia factory was found to be operating under unsanitary conditions as per the result of inspections conducted by the sanitation division. 
    It was also found to be operating without a business permit and thus has not been paying regulatory fees and business taxes. 
    Also last September, a taho factory at Brookside barangay was flagged by the sanitation division also due to unhygienic condition and for causing air pollution. 
causing nuisance in the neighborhood. 
    A Sanitary Order and Notice of Violation were issued to the establishment which was directed to comply with sanitation standards and to stop using coconut husks for cooking to avoid excessive smoke within three days. 
    Carame said the division will continue monitoring establishments in the city to ensure the health and safety of the city’s populace. 
    Violations may be reported to the division at tel. no. 074-4449217.
              ***
A total of 25 senior citizens from different barangays underwent training on
basic computer literacy and hands-on use of laptops today, Oct. 12 at the Dept. of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Cordillera Training Center.
    The Office of the City Social Welfare and Development Officer under OCSWD Officer Liza Bulayungan said the digital literacy and computer operation training is part of the Senior Citizens Wellness Camp which is among the line-up of activities for the 2023 Elderly Filipino Month celebration with the theme: "Honoring the Invaluable Legacy of the Filipino Senior Citizens."
    The activity was headed by the OCSWDO and Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs Office (OSCA) headed by Laurito Alinao in partnership with the DICT-CAR, Federation of Baguio Senior Citizens Associations and the City Mayor's Office.
Under the camp, the city's elderly are also scheduled to undergo swimming lessons and yoga classes scheduled this month.