The 9 videos most liked by the public and the 3 selected by the jury will be released on SBPC channels on November 25th. The winners will also participate in presentation and chat sessions during the week that ends the 72nd Annual Meeting of the SBPC, between December 1st and 5th, 2020. 

Among the competing teaching and research institutions are the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (Fiocruz), the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the University of São Paulo, the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), PUC-MG and the Covid-19 Observatory in Brazil.

ISD Videos

The videos “Coronavirus: how to sanitize food and packaging” (which can be accessed at this address: https://bit.ly/youtubevideo1_ISDxCovid19) and “ISD Explains: Breathing difficulties that are warning signs of the disease” (available here: https://bit.ly/youtubevideo2_ISDxCovid19), with which the Santos Dumont Institute competes, were produced by students of the Multiprofessional Residency in Health Care for People with Disabilities, of the Anita Garibaldi Center for Education and Research in Health, of the ISD, with supervision from Anita's multiprofessional preceptors.

For Camila Simão, physiotherapist, multidisciplinary preceptor and coordinator of the “Covid-19 Committee” at Anita/ISD – one of the three committees created to work on priority demands in the service in relation to the pandemic – the challenge was faced with determination by the residents, who produced the videos while working remotely. “Our goal was to inform the population at a time when there were many doubts about Covid-19, encouraging people to take the necessary precautions and teaching them to recognize possible symptoms. This mission was embraced by our residents who learned a new skill, since producing videos like these was not part of the knowledge of most of them”, says Camila.

The video production process took into account several nuances of the beginning of the pandemic and the accessibility of the content – which was subtitled and, the two now registered in the SBPC exhibition, had translation into sign language. The most relevant topics were chosen and discussed jointly by preceptors and students, through working groups of the Covid-19 Commission, and also considered the most frequent questions of the public served by Anita.

“We highlighted the importance of talking about the issue of food and packaging hygiene, which was something necessary and about which there was not much information circulating. The video about respiratory symptoms was made with many of our patients in mind, such as children, people with disabilities or spinal cord injuries who would need to have caregivers and family members who were well informed about the situation in order to identify possible symptoms,” explains the physiotherapist.

ISD x Covid-19

Since the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, students, researchers and preceptors at the Santos Dumont Institute have joined forces in a collective effort to respond to society's demands, ranging from protective masks, produced and donated to protect teams in health units, to the production of videos, brochures, arts and science to show the population possible ways to get through this moment, take care of their physical and mental health, report violence and make decisions in this context.

At Anita, three committees were created to work on specific lines of service. The Psychology Committee, focused on psychological support, was tasked with taking care of the mental health of professionals and users. The Social Service Committee, in turn, was responsible for discussing people's rights during the pandemic. And the Covid-19 Committee, which brought together residents and preceptors from speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy and nutrition professionals to work on specific issues related to combating the pandemic, had the mission of generating accessible information for users and the community in general during this period.

The ISD also underwent an unprecedented adaptation in services during the pandemic, when Anita began to temporarily operate as an emergency room for suspected cases of Covid-19 and lower-risk emergencies in pregnant women and children.

Other work fronts were the fight against false information, through official and scientific information gathered by students of the Master's degree in Neuroengineering, and the production of shield masks at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS) for donation to health units in Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. 

Strategies such as the adoption of telehealth care to maintain incentives for patients undergoing rehabilitation, online awareness about sexual abuse and exploitation during the isolation period, and a telephone line open to the public for psychological and emotional support were also adopted.