Water is essential to any living things here on earth especially to humans. It serves a lot of functions in daily living. It can be used to clean things, to generate energy, and a lot more things, but most especially, to quench thirst and to nourish the body. Pollution has great impact on the drinking water. As pollution, may it be water, air or land, increases, the amount of drinking water is decreasing.  The potability of water now is always taken in to account when it is used for human consumption. Water can be a vessel for a lot of diseases like diarrhea, typhoid fever and cholera if not properly handled and consumed by humans. It is important to determine the safety of water when it comes for human consumption.

The general objective of the health plan on water is to increase the number of households having access to safe drinking water from 30% to 90% in Barangay Goaw by the year. One of the specific objectives is to increase the knowledge of the community about water handling practices in the household level.

Several interventions were already done. This exposure, house-to-house survey evaluated the practices of each family with regards to water handling. 

“Agianan sa Tubig na Limpyo” is a community assembly where representative of each households were taught about possible ways of water contamination and methods of its prevention. The assembly was done last April 2015, and now, undergoing its monitoring and evaluation.

The assembly was done last April 2015, and as of now, the number of households practicing proper water handling is still increasing. Having knowledge about water contamination and its prevention may be the cause of the households to seek on ways on how to effectively practice proper water handling. Yet, there is still room for improvement. Therefore, another community assembly will be planned. This time, instead of doing it barangay level, purok level will be done in order to increase the number of people attending the assembly, thus, more households will be knowledgeable about proper water handling practices.

An increase in the number of households practicing proper water handling is noted. Yet there is still room for improvement, and therefore a future plan of doing the assembly again at the purok level. 

Agianan sa Pag-atiman: Establishment of BHS and EmT

Barangay Goaw is located around 8 km away from the center of the municipality, where the Rural Health Unit (RHU) and Liloy Integrated Health District Hospital (LIHDH) are situated. The distance from such facilities and the nonexistent health station in the community remain a major barrier in health access especially during emergencies where prompt treatment is imperative. The lack of organized referral system in the community resulted in delays, which eventually resulted to medical complications that could have been prevented when immediate assessment, diagnosis and management were done.

The Barangay Health Workers (BHW) and Barangay Tanod Emergency Response Team (BTERT) are trained individuals for first aid. They serve as responders for the barangay together with the Barangay Officials. In coordination with the Philippine Red Cross and Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF), they underwent various trainings on Basic Life Support and First Aid. However, knowledge alone is not enough; the lack of medical equipment and resources limited the help they can offer to those in need of emergency care.

 In the pursuit of increasing the documented emergency cases in the Barangay Health Station of Barangay Goaw to 80% of the recorded cases in the Rural Health Unit and Liloy Integrated Health District Hospital, resources for health emergency management should be readily available.

In order to meet the needs in emergency care, Emergency Tricycle (EmT) and Barangay Health Station were constructed. Also, supplies and equipment for the BHS were made available. 

    

The Emergency Tricycle (EmT) is the first of its kind in the country. To meet the pressing transport problems, a Habal-Habal Ambulance (Habalulance), renamed as Emergency Tricycle, was proposed to the Local Government Unit. It was agreed to be a pilot project of the medical students in coordination with the LGU. 

The Barangay Health Station was funded by the KALAHI-CIDSS and was fully functional starting January 2016. The center is manned by the Barangay Health Workers, midwife and Barangay Health Emergency Response Team. 

With the construction of the Barangay Health Station and procurement of medical equipment, the Barangay Health Workers and Barangay Health Emergency Response Team will be able to provide quality care services for their constituents. With the regular trainings they receive from reputable organizations, it is assured that their knowledge and skills in basic first aid management will improve the primary health care services in the community

Apart from the referral system during emergency cases, prenatal visits, immunization and medical consultations also improved. The equipped Barangay Health Station did not only provide a place for primary health care but also answered the problem on inadequate health access.