NENITA ANGELIKA L. GELAGA

Educational Background:

Tertiary Education

Velez College - B.S. Occupational Therapy

F. Ramos St. Cebu City, Cebu

August 2019 - Present

Secondary Education

University of San Carlos - Talamban Campus

Sitio Nasipit, Talamban, Cebu City

S.Y 2016 - 2018

Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción - Cebu

S45 Gorordo Ave, Cebu City, Cebu

S.Y 2012 - 2016

Primary Education

San Isidro Parish School

Talamban Cebu City

S.Y 2006 - 2013

Achievements:

• College

Dean’s List SY 2019-2020 (First Semester)

Dean’s List SY 2019-2020 (Second Semester)

• Senior High School

TESDA certification of completion in Tourism (NCII)

• Junior High School

Honor's List SY 2015-2016

My experience as an OT student in Velez College:

Velez College is a known school that produces quality healthcare workers thus in order for me to achieve that we have to work hard in our studies. Being an OT student especially is hard because we not only have to be knowledgeable on the different conditions but we also have to know how to treat our patients holistically. We have to consider the occupations that they deem as meaningful and give management and interventions that are in line to their interests and goals.

There were also a lot of challenges that we had encountered as OT students and one of those is the Covid-19 pandemic that has changed the norm. We were put in a situation where we have to think about our safety as well as of the others but still be able to continue our academic journey. A change from the normal setting to an online school was done and although we were able to continue our schooling we faced challenges that we have to get accustomed to such as not being able to see our classmates, instructors, and our friends who we consider as our support system. Fortunately, everyone did their part and we were able to do our demonstrations and clinical teletherapy through the online platform. This experience would always be something that is unforgettable for me and it makes me a more resilient student that will hopefully become a professional Occupational Therapist in the future.

My Component:

Under the Community-Based Health and Rehabilitation class, together with my other groupmates, we are assigned under the Mental Health and Humanitarian Crisis component. However, we were combined with the Livelihood Components to implement the “It’s the Tote that Counts” program.

Planning CBH&R Programs:

I have experience in planning and designing community programs as it is always my goal to bring change and help through a large group in a community. Thus, I was excited when I learned that we get to create a program and implement them for a chosen community. However, I was apprehensive because we are in the middle of a pandemic and although it has subsided there are still risks and limitations in doing a program. However, OT students are known for their creativity and resourcefulness so I was determined in planning and designing a CBH&R Program. When planning and designing of CBH&R Programs, we have to know our chosen and community and do surveys in order to decide what programs should we do and how it can help the chosen community. Our chosen community was Everlasting Hope Center, a non-profit organization that helps children with cancer and their families in finding financial support and giving them shelter whenever they need to do chemotherapy. I was happy learning that this would be our chosen community because I also experienced cancer and I know the problems and challenges it brings. We were able to conduct surveys and a stakeholder’s meeting and through these we learned what components are important and what we should focus in our CBH&R Program.

Designing and Implementation of CBH&R Program:

Knowledge is truly power. I believe that we were able to design and implement a good CBH&R Program because we were able to know what activities would be the most impactful for the community and how it can help them in long-term. We were merged with the livelihood component and from the surveys we discovered that most parents have problems financially and if given the chance they would want to be able to have more financial sources. Thus, knowing these we decided to design a program that can help them learn more about starting a business and having inspiration in what products they could sell.

We came up with the program entitled “It’s the Tote that Counts” that includes activities geared in helping them have other means of getting financial needs for them and their children. I was appointed as the Host for the event and although I was nervous I still said yes because I wanted to give my best and deliver a good program for the parents as well as the children. Everything was going well until we had to buy tote bags for our tote making activity and it was hard finding on hand tote bags so even if I was already the host I still decided to help the financial team in finding tote bags. Fortunately, I was able to communicate with an online seller who sells canvas bags and asked if we could buy tote bags for our program for the parents and children who are fighting cancer. And miraculously she said that she would donate 10 tote bags for us as it is for a good cause. I was so happy that I told my group mates and we were touched that someone would help us in making this program possible. However, we still have a problem and that is finding a speaker with a background in online business, so I had the idea of asking the owner of the shop who donated the canvas bags to be our speaker for the program. She was hesitant at first because she had no experience in being a speaker so my group and I decided to go with a live talk wherein we would ask her questions so that it would put her at ease. She finally agreed and we were ecstatic to have her as our speaker for the program. During the program everything was going smoothly and I was so thankful that my group mates were participative and helped each other to make the program a success.

It was truly an unforgettable experience being able to do a program that has helped a community and is meaningful for them. It was not an easy task and we faced a lot of hurdles but we were able to overcome them and delivered a good program for the participants. I hope that everyone was able to see our efforts and our hard work through our program and that it has brought a significant impact to the parents and children in E-Hope. I hope that we get to have more opportunities in making a program in the future and be able to help more communities to the best of my abilities.