October 20th was the last day of the classroom specialization course on “Access to Health: information, communication, and equity” promoted by the Institute of Scientific and Technological Communication and Information in Health (ICICT/FIOCRUZ) in partnership with the Institute of Collective Health of Universidade Federal Fluminense (ISC/UFF). For four days, 40 students participated in classes, talks, presentations, and group dynamics at the headquarters of FIOTEC, which supported the training course.

The activities all had the same objective: to train health professionals in the Network of Care for Persons with Disabilities, in the Unified Health System (SUS), from a perspective that empowers access and inclusion of persons with disabilities and their families in the public healthcare system. The aim was to foster reflection on practices in the field and the work done by health professionals based on the guidelines under the policy for care of persons with disabilities.

Opening

The opening panel for the course activities featured training coordinator Cristina Guimarães of ICICT/FIOCRUZ, Aluísio Gomes, representing ISC/UFF, Hayne Felipe da Silva, executive director of FIOTEC, and Carlos Vivas, superintendent of Professional Training at the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat of Labor and Income (SETRAB).

Cristina Guimarães introduced the panel members and welcomed the students, mentioning the health professionals in the SUS that endeavor to make a difference: “They try, and they do.” Next, Aluísio Gomes recalled the years of work with Cristina, promoting partnerships and discussions on the theme. “The word ‘inclusion’ refers not only to the ‘included other’, but also involves the idea of including ourselves in a whole, and I believe that’s the path we need to work on.” He further highlighted the training course’s unique format and methodology, citing that the members of this first class will be “coauthors of the course, with a key role in defining approaches, forms, and content”.

FIOTEC executive director Hayne Felipe da Silva stated that the commitment by FIOCRUZ to the activities of the Unified Health System is the same as that of FIOTEC, which is always open to hosting such events “We have to be totally aligned with all the activities developed by FIOCRUZ to strengthen the Unified Health System (SUS). We are experiencing a time when nothing could be better than to join hands, to make partnerships to overcome this situation, and to make the Unified Health System exactly what we need it to be,” he commented.

Carlos Vivas, representative of SETRAB, said that the moment of crisis and financial difficulties has actually fostered a dialogue with groups from society, to develop partnerships and learn new ideas and solutions. And he issued a plea: “We need knowledge, the Secretariat [of Labor and Income] lacks information and studies, and we need you to generate innovation. The staff at SETRAB needs this knowledge,” he concluded.