IT WAS COOL!

ERGONOMICS

The term “ergonomics” is derived from two Greek words: “ergon”, meaning work and “nomoi”, meaning natural laws. Ergonomists study human capabilities in relationship to work demands.

Ergonomics, also known as human factors, is the scientific discipline that seeks to understand and improve human interactions with products, equipment, environment and the system. From different areas of sciences and health related studies such as human biology, psychology, ergonomics aims to develop and apply knowledge and techniques to optimize system performance while protecting health, safety and well-being of individuals involved. The concern of ergonomics extends across leisure, work and other aspects of daily living.

In recent years, ergonomists have attempted to define postures which minimize unnecessary static work and reduce the forces acting on the body. All of us could significantly reduce our risk of injury if we could adhere to the following ergonomic principles:

• All work activities should permit the worker to adopt several different, but equally healthy and safe postures   

• Where muscular force has to be exerted it should be done by the largest appropriate muscle groups available  
• Work activities should be performed with the joints at about mid-point of their range of movement. This applies particularly to the head, trunk, and upper limbs.
  

Ms. Cathy Eguia is a physical therapist who practices ergonomics as her chosen field after graduating from University of the Philippines-Manila. She works at AMKOR Technology Philippines, a manufacturing company which specializes in the production of microchips and technological paraphernalia necessary for the utilization of computers and other related products. She works in an office located inside the factory. She is the physical therapists of the company which has two branches, one is in sucat and the other in Santa Rosa.

According to her, a physical therapist's task is to to assess the workplace of all the employees in the company. She points out certain barriers which affects the productivity of the workers. Estimating a total of 6500 workers, Ms. Cathy Eguia evaluates their respecting work stations and determine all the possible sources of injury and enumerate all the effects if these barriers would not be corrected. She works with other professionals such as doctors and nurses. All of them aim to identify the probability of increasing the efficiency of the workers through the proper addressing of all the threats related to work.

Ms. Cathy Eguia goes to all the departments each day and evaluate the workplace of each worker. She examines the position of the worker and environment. If she finds it to be very delicate for the person, she advices the company to modify the area to reduce and even eliminate the possible factors that could bring a development of disability to the person. She keeps track of all the health records of workers and attend to them whenever they need her intervention and advice. She examines. each worker's capability and maximum movement capability through therapeutic exercises and use of up-to-date equipments for proper assessment.

Being the only Physical Therapist in the company, she finds her job to be very tiring. Though she sees her job as a way of helping the workers in improving their physical capabilities and extend their potentials beyond their current capability. She considered herself as a person who finds fulfillment whenever she sees someone improves her work and become free from any injury because of her skill and knowledge.

The group was not fortunate to visit the place. But we were lucky enough to have ms. Eguia who completely described the place and herself as a physical therapist working to improve other's lives! According to her, she is not into going outside the country and search for a greener pasture. She believes that as a Filipino, she has to serve first her fellowmen before other people.

By: Jonas Bernabe

Hindi kayo nag-aaral ng pagka PT para makakuha ng mataas na grado na makikita sa inyong mga transcript subalit, kinukuha ninyo ang kurso na ito, sinasapuso at iniintinding mabuti upang mapakanibangan ninyo at ng mga pasyente ninyo sa hinaharap. Ang kaalaman na inyong natamasa ang siyang tutulong sa inyo upang buhayin ang pag-asa ng mga pasyente ninyong gustong makalakad ng maayos, gumaling at mabawasan ang kirot na nararamdaman ng kanilang murang katawan at higit sa lahat magkaroon sila ng tibay at lakas ng loob upang labanan at malagpasan ang mga pagsubok na haharapin. Nasa kamay nating mga Physical Therapists ang nalalabing pag-asa ng mga may kapansanan.. Hindi kayo nag-aaral ng pagka PT para makakuha ng mataas na grado na makikita sa inyong mga transcript subalit, kinukuha ninyo ang kurso na ito, sinasapuso at iniintinding mabuti upang mapakanibangan ninyo at ng mga pasyente ninyo sa hinaharap. Ang kaalaman na inyong natamasa ang siyang tutulong sa inyo upang buhayin ang pag-asa ng mga pasyente ninyong gustong makalakad ng maayos, gumaling at mabawasan ang kirot na nararamdaman ng kanilang murang katawan at higit sa lahat magkaroon sila ng tibay at lakas ng loob upang labanan at malagpasan ang mga pagsubok na haharapin. Nasa kamay nating mga Physical Therapists ang nalalabing pag-asa ng mga may kapansanan.. Being exposed to what physical therapists do in different settings is part of the activities that we are supposed to do in our PT 100 course. I was really excited when I found out that were going to be exposed to the work of a physical therapist in the industrial setting, in Amkor which was situated in Paranaque and Laguna. Unfortunately, we were not able to go to the place due to some reasons which was explained to us by the physical therapist working there. She was Ms. Kath Eguia, a graduate of Physical Therapy from the University of the Philippines. So to avoid wasting time, we just interviewed her and asked some questions regarding AmKor and her life as a physical therapist.

First and foremost, she introduced herself to us and right after it, we began to interrogate her. We talked about her college life and how she ended up in physical therapy. Her story is the same with mine. We were both really not interested in physical therapy because we wanted to take other courses but we ended up in this course. She told us that CAMP and PT life is really toxic but we must never give up because everything is worth it right after we graduate. In case we think of shifting to other course, we might as well attempt to try PT subjects first because she told us that you will never know how important physical therapy and physical therapist will be unless we try.

As we progressed, we also asked questions regarding her workplace. As far as I remember, she told us that she is one of the few people with occupations related to health there. Her task is to check if everything is doing well in their workplace, which was full of machines for producing microchips and other stuffs, and to check whether it is safe for the workers to work there. She is also responsible for the improvement of the quality of the workers there. She told us that her work is really stressful due to the fact that she’s the only physical therapist there and she handles almost 500 workers but she said that it feels good if she was successfully able to do all the things she ought to do, especially improving the quality of life of an individual. She told us that when you’re handling a patient in the near future, you will an unexplainable feeling after you successfully treated your patient. It is rewarding especially when you see the big difference between your patient when she still has impairments from your patient right after your treatment.

She is one of the few people who really inspired me to continue this course. There is one statement that really stayed in my mind and has become my principle in life. Here is how it goes:

“Hindi kayo nag-aaral ng pagka PT para makakuha ng mataas na grado na makikita sa inyong mga transcript subalit, kinukuha ninyo ang kurso na ito, sinasapuso at iniintinding mabuti upang mapakanibangan ninyo at ng mga pasyente ninyo sa hinaharap. Ang kaalaman na inyong natamasa ang siyang tutulong sa inyo upang buhayin ang pag-asa ng mga pasyente ninyong gustong makalakad ng maayos, gumaling at mabawasan ang kirot na nararamdaman ng kanilang murang katawan at higit sa lahat magkaroon sila ng tibay at lakas ng loob upang labanan at malagpasan ang mga pagsubok na haharapin. Nasa kamay nating mga Physical Therapists ang nalalabing pag-asa ng mga may kapansanan.”

This really struck me most because I realized that there are a lot of people who are in need of therapy but there are only a few who could help them. I want to be one of those people who could restore back their normal way of living. And with this I formulated my long term goal, which is to finish this course and help other people. I believe that it is destiny that has brought me here, just like what Ms. Eguia was. I am destined to help people. I am destined to be here.

By: Eidref Santos

Our clinical exposure which aims to interview a registered physical therapist in a specific profession is one of the most significant and must do activity for every physical therapy student. Our group is assigned to confer to a physical therapist on an industrial setting spearheaded by Madam Kath Eguia PTRP. She is once a UP student and currently working at AMKOR Technology of the Philippines. AMKOR is the world’s leading suppliers of outsourced semiconductor interconnect services and it provides leading-edge package solutions such as Package on Package (PoP), Stacked Packaging, Flip Chip, MicroLeadFrame^®, System-in-Package, MEMS, and Wafer Level Packaging (WLP), for latest generation applications.

At the outset, it is quite unusual on how a physical therapists work on this semiconductor company so Maam Eguia explained to us each feature of her work. A physical therapist, assigned to an industrial setting is quite different on other physical therapy field because it covers a wide range of development. The objectives of a therapist in this kind of locale is to provide and to survey the possible techniques to be done to improve one’s quality of work e.g. the best position of a person while carrying heavy boxes or the correct sitting position to avoid pain. After teaching and doing the proper stances, a physical therapist is also assigned to check the kind of development on the worker’s quality of work they do and the products they generate.

Maam Eguia did not only tell to us the line of work she is practicing right now but she also gave us words of wisdom and advices on how to survive a University of the Philippines. She said that we must strive hard and never to give up. In fact, Maam Eguia is one of the persons who encouraged me to finish the course as she gave us the background of our future profession. She said that physical therapists are better than a doctor because a doctor just gave the immediate medications to be done on a patient but a physical therapist is always there for the patient through the time he is suffering, the healing process up to the evaluation stage. A physical therapist is unique because he sees the patient’s condition day by day and observes his development up to the time they are well. Lastly, the most significant lesson she impart to us is this, “ Hindi kayo nag-aaral ng pagka PT para makakuha ng mataas na grado na makikita sa inyong mga transcript subalit, kinukuha ninyo ang kurso na ito, sinasapuso at iniintinding mabuti upang mapakanibangan ninyo at ng mga pasyente ninyo sa hinaharap. Ang kaalaman na inyong natamasa ang siyang tutulong sa inyo upang buhayin ang pag-asa ng mga pasyente ninyong gustong makalakad ng maayos, gumaling at mabawasan ang kirot na nararamdaman ng kanilang murang katawan at higit sa lahat magkaroon sila ng tibay at lakas ng loob upang labanan at malagpasan ang mga pagsubok na haharapin. Nasa kamay nating mga Physical Therapists ang nalalabing pag-asa ng mga may kapansanan.. ”

Thus, after our interview, all of us are flabbergasted and really convinced to follow the track of our dreams, to be a future physical therapist holding the University of the Philippines' core values of HONOR and EXCELLENCE!

By: Kevin Barrozo The more I think of my profession someday, the more I crave for graduating immediately from my course. First thing that sprouted on the setting where Ms. Eguia works was concerned on prosthetics and prostheses. Since the exposure was about physical therapist in an industrial setting, I thought of interviewing someone who is involved in manufacturing aid equipments for people with disabilities. I was surprised when she told us that she is working in a factory of microchips! Where is PT there? She explained thoroughly and gave interest to the entire group. Ms. Eguia has inspired me to strive more and become the best physical therapist someday. She has opened our minds to the essence of having a physical therapist in every sector of the society. I didn't think that a physical therapist is needed on that particular workplace. Ms. Eguia has described how she works inside with other professionals such as doctors and nurses who are also part of the medical team of AMKOR Philippines. She has broadened our thoughts on our possible responsibilities when we become physical therapists someday. She gave us a brief background on how she performs her job to the highest grade of professionalism. Ms. Eguia determined physical therapists as people who touch the lives of other people, regardless of race and culture. She portrayed the flexibility of a physical therapist, the finesse of being a licensed professional and the undoubted perseverance in serving the Filipinos. We asked her if she's planning to go abroad and she answered, “Kung aalis ako, wala nang tutulong sa mga kababayan natin.” Because of this exposure, my plan of shifting to Business Administration is just another hallucination!

By: Ronald Escano Having the chance to interview one of the graduates of Physical Therapy in The University of the Philippines Manila was a pretty good experience. We had interviewed Ms. Kathy, who is currently working in the AMKOR Philippines as their one and only Physical Therapist, but of course together with her colleagues, a harmonious working condition was established. AMKOR is by the way an international company who specializes in making microchips and processors for different computer companies such as Hewlett Packard and Dell. Even though we were not able to see the actual workplace of Ms. Kathy, she was able described it very well in order for us to depict the real image of it. AMKOR was a pretty enormous place where in a lot of machineries, heavy equipment could be found and of course thousands and thousands of hardworking employees. Unfortunately, due to this working situation there are times where in the employees tend to go beyond their capacity to work resulting to disabilities. Thinking of the place where Ms. Kathy worked, a lot of questions came to cross our minds. How do you do it alone? What do you feel after making someone better? Ms. Kathy answered our questions one by one, and as she answers them, we were getting interested in it much more. She told us that being a Physical Therapist is no joke, that it requires a lot of effort in order for it to succeed; moreover, a lot of heart must be put in to it, that you must love what you do. Upon hearing her words of wisdom, we were enlightened that Physical Therapy is not just about making money, but most of all the heart warming feeling of helping someone in need. By: Randall de Guzman We were given the chance to interview the only Physical Therapist in AMKOR Technology Philippines Inc., Ms. Kathy Eguia. She was a graduate of BS Physical Therapy in the University of the Philippines Manila. Before starting the actual interview, she introduced herself and told us about her college life. After knowing that Physical Therapy was not her first choice, I started to think twice about pursuing my current course, since PT was not also my first choice. But, after explaining lots of things about Physical Therapy, my thoughts suddenly stop and told me that I should continue this course. Because ever since I was a child, I always dreamt of helping other people who are in need. That is why I want to be in a medical-related profession. Fortunately, Ma’am Eguia, in some other way, helped me to be ready in going through this course. “AMKOR is a strategic contract manufacturing resource for many of the world’s leading semiconductor companies.” My very first idea about AMKOR is they do things or machines related to persons with disabilities, such as wheelchairs and crutches. But Ms. Kathy explained to us that they are producing semiconductors. AMKOR has two plants here in the Philippines, one in Paranaque and the other in Laguna. Ms. Kathy told us that since she is the only Physical Therapist in the company, she is having a hard time visiting these plants and checking if there are workers who are injured or need to be seen by a doctor or a therapist. I asked her if she was not feeling tired or bored of her work, she then answered me that all of us get tired, but despite of getting tired from all the things that she does, there is always that happy feeling whenever you are able to help other people and hearing the words “Thank You” from them.