The Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) welcomes this week its third Residency class, a pioneering program in Brazil that receives professionals from the areas of physiotherapy, speech therapy, psychology and social work – and which has the Anita Garibaldi Center for Education and Research in Health (CEPES), in Macaíba (RN), as its main internship field.

Residents will work in the healthcare of people with hearing, physical and intellectual disabilities, distributed – at CEPS – between the clinics of Epilepsy (child and adult); Parkinson's; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Spinal Cord Injury (child and adult); Microcephaly; Hearing Impairment (child and adult); Prematurity and Neurogenic Bladder.

“They will also have to go through hospitals, rehabilitation centers and primary care services in the Metropolitan Region (of Natal),” explains Lorenna Santiago, coordinator of the Multidisciplinary Residency Program in Health Care for People with Disabilities at ISD. The Residency, she says, “complements the work of the Institute, since its main role is to train health professionals with comprehensive and humanized care.”

Reception

The new class is welcomed this week in welcoming activities promoted by second-year residents and arrives literally putting themselves in the shoes of the people they will serve.

In practice, they participate on the first day in a simulation in which they are encouraged to move around the CEPS facilities using a wheelchair, orthoses, crutches or blindfolded. 

“The purpose of this exercise is for them to experience the context of a person with a disability. It is also a way to strengthen empathy for patients,” says Lorenna.

Activities with them begin when the first ISD Residency class – which started in 2018 – graduates. The training takes place over a period of 2 years.

“Our goal is to train professionals who work in person-centered care. This means that, for them, there is no hierarchy in care, that is, the professional makes decisions alone, but rather together with the patients,” observes Lorenna.

“The patient is an active participant in therapeutic decision-making and care is geared towards their individual needs,” he adds.

About ISD

The Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) is a Social Organization that maintains a Management Contract with the Ministry of Education (MEC) and that operates in teaching, research and extension in the areas of neuroscience, neuroengineering, maternal and child health and People with Disabilities through the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS) and the Anita Garibaldi Center for Education and Research in Health (CEPS), located in Macaíba (RN).