The project IInFraCo-Integrated Intervention in the Post-Confinement Fragility, developed by lecturers of the Superior School of Health Technology of Lisbon (ESTeSL) of the Polytechnic of Lisbon, was distinguished in the seventh edition of the Gilead GÉNESE Program. Out of 72 applications, 13 winning projects were selected in the areas of scientific research and community intervention, being the Politecnico of Lisbon the only polytechnic in the country to be on the final list.
Having as a goal to implement a program of Mobility, balance, coordination and Nordic Marcha in adults greater than 65 years resident in the community engaging with ESTeSL (Moscavide and Portela), the IInFraCo will contribute to the improvement of the physical fitness and functional ability of these adults, which after confinement and social remoteness since February 2020 present limitations of their functional capacity.
Concurrently, the project aims to provide tools of autonomy at the level of physical activity and healthy lifestyles, so that participants can safely integrate the march (and march with batons) into daily life, while also contributing to the promotion of health and prevention of fragility and disease in this population.
It is about an integrated program, which involves different areas of intervention in community health, addressing community and geriatric intervention in different strands- Physiotherapy, Medicine and Nutrition. They are involved in this project the faculty of ESTeSL Teresa Tomás, Beatriz Fernandes, Marisa Cebola and Miguel Ferreira.
For Teresa Tomás, coordinator of IInFraCo "the teaching and practice of a simple activity-March, with recourse to the use of batons, the so-called Nordic march, could be a motivating factor that contributes to the increase in physical activity as lifestyle in the elderly population.". On the other hand, the lecturer highlights the fact that the project is based "on the involvement of different community resources: freguesia joint, higher education institution, local health institution."
The Gilead GÉNESE Programme was established in 2013 with the ambition to encourage research, production and sharing of scientific knowledge at the national level, and to enable initiatives that lead to the implementation of good practices in patient monitoring. In 2021, awarded grants totaled 310 thousand euros (210 thousand euros for six research projects and 100 thousand euros for seven community intervention projects) and are funded by the drugmaker Gilead.
Images yielded by Gilead
