Page 122 - Mind, Body & Spirit Number 104 2020/21

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PRIMARY CARE REHABILITATION FACILITY DHEKELIA STATION CYPRUS
PCRF Dhekelia has remained a busy practice over the past year despite the obvious hurdles that 2020 has thrown at us. The PCRF has continued delivering face to face rehabilitation
and where restrictions hampered this, care has continued through telephone consultations with Rehab programs sent to the patients via smart phone applications.
COVID has hampered some of our patient’s secondary care, including patients returning to the UK for Regional Rehab courses. To overcome this Sgt (SI) Graham Smith organised and delivered a bespoke one week condensed Regional Rehab Unit course in house. This course saw Dhekelia Station and 1PWRR personnel removed from their daily work routines and receiving one to one input from both the Physiotherapist and ERI. The aim of the course was to facilitate self-management through an improved understanding of injury and exploration of physical abilities. Due to the outstanding feedback received, this course has now been put into best practice for the PCRF and this will be continued to be delivered bi-annually.
Away from usual business, the PCRF has also been assisting Dhekelia Medical centre with the fight against COVID. When required the team has stepped up and conducted swabs for British Forces Cyprus personnel and dependants easing the burden on the Station and 1PWRR nurses and medics.
Looking forward, PCRF Dhekelia will lead in pre and post- natal exercise and chronic pain. In addition, the physios will be specialising in paediatrics and hand care and we all anticipate some time enjoying Cyprus for all it has to offer.
Soldiers coming through our doors, as well as the Permanent staff and 2 Viking Squadrons of Royal Marines consistently keeping the diary full.
In addition to the intense numbers coming through the door, PCRF Bovington has moved to are larger real estate, which required a
Sgt (SI) D Best Swabbing
Sgt (SI) D Best RAPTC keeping a watchful eye
Sgt (SI) D Best RAPTC
subsequent uplift in kit and equipment. The PCRF has only been able to continue with the care delivered in the past due to the utilisation of the Garrison Gymnasiums PTE. With the mainstream PT counterparts taking priority, the rehab instructors of the past have had to adapt their group therapy lessons to deal with the lack of equipment available. With patient numbers being maximised in nearly all class therapy sessions, the small amount of kit the PCRF owns is suffering at the hands of wear and tear. This was my main area to address on arrival at Bovington and have procured just over £40000 of new kit and equipment over the course of a year to rectify this issue, which will undoubtedly improve the effectiveness of our Rehabilitation.
My future intent whilst at PCRF Bovington is to continue to improve the our ability to deliver high quality Class Therapy lessons, develop the AAPTIs with bi-weekly In Service Training as well as continuing to audit the injury trends of our Phase 2 Soldiers with subsequent advise given to the Chain of Command.
INFANTRY TRAINING CENTRE PRIMARY CARE REHABILITATION FACILITY
Sgt (SI) R Burns RAPTC
During an average week within the rehabilitation department at the Infantry Training Centre we can have over 65 recruits using our gym floor for rehabilitation
purposes each day. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began recruits are split into household groups which has led to some often-flexible daily timetabling
to keep them apart, which to the credit
of the military and civilian members of staff has been accomplished extremely well. In response to this continued work the department got a well-earned commander DPHC commendation for their work during this past unprecedented year.
Covid-19 aside we have recently
expanded our footprint within ITC with a
room being repurposed into a new state
of the art strength and conditioning
suite opened known as the Tuila
rehabilitation gym. While inside a dated room the equipment is purpose built for what is needed at ITC to return infantry recruits to full fitness in the quickest time possible, this new
facility has allowed variety to be added to all the recruits training programmes throughout the whole rehabilitation process.
Over the last year some of the instructors have still been able to fit in an AT package of hill walking to tackle the Yorkshire three peaks and managing to take some of the other ITC Permanent Staff along for the AT experience, on top of this both Sgt (SI) McGrevey and WO2 (QMSI) McGregor both gained the sailing competent crew qualification. Sgt (SI) Downes also raised over £3,000 for the NHS Charity with a mammoth event which saw him complete 10,000 Kettlebell swings with
24Kg inside of 24 Hours.
Overall, even though COVID has
impacted normal life in so many ways support to provide rehabilitation at the ITC has remained steadfast and sure during times when uncertainty and
constant change have been part normal day to business.
NHS Staff show Appreciation for Sgt (SI) Downes